Attorney General Graham Leung believes that an uncomfortable truth about the legal profession is that we have too many lawyers, and too many unqualified lawyers, and that we are seeing new law firms being established by lawyers, some barely out of law school.

Speaking at the Fiji Law Society convention, Leung said to maintain the integrity and image of the profession, they must reform the Legal Practitioners Act and strengthen legal requirements to ensure that only those who meet certain basic minimum standards can establish new law firms. .

Leung says those standards could include a minimum number of years in practice, successful completion of practice management courses and proper management of trust accounts.

He says some people probably got into this profession because they think it’s glamorous and will allow them to make a decent living, that it’s a quick path to wealth and a grand lifestyle .

He says that when he was called to the bar 42 years ago, Fiji had no law school and the country’s only lawyers went abroad to study.

Leung says that today the situation is quite different, as we now have three universities, all producing law graduates on an assembly-line basis, but there is no corresponding increase in legal jobs.

The attorney general says he knows some young lawyers who earn as little as $200 a week, while others are still looking for full-time work, years after graduating.

Leung says that when he started as a young lawyer, there were probably 300 lawyers in the country; today there are approximately 2,366 registered lawyers.

Around 1,115 of them hold a practicing certificate, half of those admitted do not practice law as such.

Leung asserts that the rapid expansion of the profession over a relatively short period of time has led to growing concerns about competence and adherence to legal ethics on the part of some members of the profession.

He said it is worrying to see lawyers who are still wet behind their ears being allowed to practice and being outed to an unsuspecting public who think that all lawyers with a law degree must have the same level of competence.

Leung says the quality of some of these lawyers leaves much to be desired, some lack basic communication skills and others have little idea about legal ethics.

He says that just last week it was reported that a High Court judge had fined a legal practitioner $200 for repeated absences from his court, and that at a recent ceremony admission, the acting chief justice lamented the lack of standards of some young lawyers.

He adds that complaints brought before the Legal Practitioners Unit range from violations/misrepresentations of trust accounts, practicing without a practicing certificate, conflicts of interest, non-reimbursement of fees after accepting the fees and without having carried out any work, overcharging, acting without instructions and practitioners. facing criminal charges.

Since its establishment, the Lgela Practitioners Unit has received a total of 3,915 complaints. Of these, 1,910 have been successfully resolved.

The remaining 2,005 complaints are currently pending. He also believes that we have also seen a decline in standards of civility and civility at the bar – between lawyers and sometimes between lawyers and the judiciary.

Leung says some lawyers think being belligerent and rude is the highest form of defense, even though it is unprofessional and does little credit to the profession.