Visiting city-based lawyers short-changing Region 2 residents

Dear Editor,
There are several reports of lawyers based in Georgetown taking cases from Essequibians and not adequately representing them. Some of these lawyers collect the full fees (amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars) upfront, and after a few appearances, stop showing up in court while the case is still in its early stages.
The hapless, vulnerable clients, who lack consumer education, are taken advantage of by these unscrupulous sharks. They do not know that there is something called a ‘retainer’, which is paid initially, and monies can be paid in instalments as the case progresses; so they pay in full initially to these lawyers, who are aggressive when demanding payment. The result is that persons with outstanding court matters for which they have paid don’t know what to do.
One lawyer even told her client that she is afraid to travel by speedboat, a phobia that was not revealed when she collected six hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($650,000) in the early stages — the full payment. Now she is not available, or asks someone without detailed knowledge of the case to stand in for her, as the case remains without closure.
This is not an isolated case. Others fail to answer their phones after being paid by the complainant and defendant, a conflict of interest that is totally unjustifiable.
I will write the Guyana Bar Association (if that is the right body) and make formal complaints against these ‘lawyers’ who apparently took an oath to uphold their clients’ interests.

Yours sincerely,
Karan Chand
Region 2 resident