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A former High Court judge has been appointed to hear complaints against Fiji’s lawyers.
John Connors is the new Independent Legal Services Commissioner, whilst former Secretary to the Legal Services Commissioner, Afrana Nisha has been appointed Secretary to the Independent Legal Services Commission.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says “the appointment of a Commissioner to the Independent Legal Services Commission marks a watershed in the legal history of Fiji”.
“Lawyers will now like in Australia be subject to scrutiny by an independent body,” he said.
Complaints against lawyers or a law firm will have to be lodged with the Chief Registrar first who will determine whether the complaint is serious enough to go be heard by the commission.
Under the Legal Practitioners Decree, the Commissioner can impose fines of up to $500,000 and to strike a legal practitioner’s name from the roll of lawyers.
According to the Acting Chief Registrar, Ana Rokomokoti, 348 outstanding complaints against lawyers in Fiji were recorded at the beginning of this month.
The allegations ranged from minor offences such as failure to take adequate instructions or acting without adequate instructions, delays, incompetence and unprofessional activity to offences involving the abuse of trust funds, payment of legal fees without providing the service, fraud and the theft of client’s money.
