Lawyer disbarred after repeated overcharging

[Shin Orochi]

Lawyer disbarred after repeated overcharging
By Ong Dai Lin, TODAY | Posted: 03 February 2010 0637 hrs
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SINGAPORE: She was told by the lawyer's secretary that the legal costs for divorce proceedings ranged from S$2,000 to S$3,000, and she had to pay a S$1,000 deposit before she could see the lawyer.

But after China national Hu Yue Hao paid the deposit, lawyer Low Yong Sen told her that his fee was S$6,000. Then when Mdm Hu paid the S$6,000 because she was afraid she would lose her deposit, Low told her he would need another S$6,000. He demanded S$1,650 more as legal fees for three sets of court documents.

Feeling cheated, Mdm Hu complained to the Law Society in June 2004. On Tuesday, a Court of Three Judges struck Low off the rolls and ordered him to pay S$8,000 in costs to the society. It is not the first time the Law Society had received complaints about Low overcharging his clients.

In May 2005, he was reprimanded and fined for charging too much in a divorce case he handled for a hawker in 2001. He had charged S$46,589 - roughly three times more than what was reasonable.

In Aug 2008, Low was suspended for six months by the Court of Three Judges for overcharging a couple for conveyancing services. His bill: S$4,300 in expenses, three times more than what was fair.

The Law Society is still deciding on the outcome of a fourth complaint in 2008. Low is believed to be the first lawyer to appear more than once before the Court of Three Judges for systemically overcharging clients.

Said Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong: "No doubt some of the overcharging may be to you not very large, but to your clients, they are large sums of money ... We do not regard the office of solicitors as an avenue for overcharging clients."

- TODAY