Sifar 03 December 2019

How to make sure your lawyer doesn't misuse your signature

Our lawyer who is fighting our native place property case, is always asking for more money in the name of court fees, darkhwast application fees, misc application fees, writ reply application fees, Xerox fees, property valuation fees etc., but never giving a breakup of the fees. He also takes my mother's signature on blank lawyer court paper for filing applications. Since we are not aware of some of the properties and he is aware (as he is a close relative and staying in native place itslef), we are concerned he might misuse her signatures somehow to put some land properties (unknown to us) in his name. There are cases emerging that he has done same with others. Is there some ways in law to safeguard ourselves from lawyer committing fraud with our signatures or selling himself to opposite party? Also how can we get breakup of all charges so that we know whether he is overcharging us or not?

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Anukriti 16 January 2020

A breach of duty also allows you to sue a lawyer. This kind of malpractice happens when the lawyer violates his or her responsibilities to you by settling the case without your approval, not preparing the case for trial, lying to you, abandoning your case, misusing funds you provided for court costs, or misusing funds owed to you (such as a settlement amount). The attorney has not done what other attorneys would do in this type of case.

If the attorney violated proper ethics, you can file a grievance with the ethics committee of the state bar association, which ensures all attorneys are in good standing to renew their licenses. The attorney could be disbarred or directed to pay you compensation.

You can refer to Section 35 of the Advocates Act, which lists malpractices.