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This story has got me wondering about some of my slower paying accounts.
Normally we follow up with the attorneys to establish the status of the transfer. But a recent case where the client claims the funds are with the attorneys and should have been paid ages ago has got me wondering.
Scores of lawyers, many of them practising in Gauteng, are likely to be struck off the roll for stealing clients' funds.
According to Jan van Rensburg, president of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, about R11,6-million a year has been stolen in the past five years by attorneys in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, which all fall under the society's jurisdiction.
He said the organisation had applied to the Pretoria high court to have 115 attorneys struck off the legal register for misappropriating clients' funds.
"A big law firm can have hundreds of clients, and millions of rand in its trust account, so an attorney can get away with the use of trust funds until one day a client comes with a huge claim that the attorney can't settle, and he thus gets exposed."
In a recent case, a Gauteng attorney is facing charges of misappropriating more than R10-million from his trust account.
full story from IOL here
According to Jan van Rensburg, president of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, about R11,6-million a year has been stolen in the past five years by attorneys in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, which all fall under the society's jurisdiction.
He said the organisation had applied to the Pretoria high court to have 115 attorneys struck off the legal register for misappropriating clients' funds.
"A big law firm can have hundreds of clients, and millions of rand in its trust account, so an attorney can get away with the use of trust funds until one day a client comes with a huge claim that the attorney can't settle, and he thus gets exposed."
In a recent case, a Gauteng attorney is facing charges of misappropriating more than R10-million from his trust account.
full story from IOL here
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