MLS warns ‘briefcase’ law firms

Malawi Law Society (MLS) has raised concern over the growing number of ‘briefcase’ law firms, warning that such practices violate the society’s Code of Ethics and existing legal requirements governing the profession. MLS president Davis Njobvu observed that some firms exist only on paper without offices, a secretariat, or a library while others are run by lawyers who lack the required years of practice under the law. He said this in an interview Saturday at the end of the society’s two-day annual conference and general meeting held in Mangochi.

Njobvu said the situation undermines professionalism and poses risks to clients, especially where lawyers handle clients’ money despite having no traceable office or proper institutional structures to guarantee accountability. “It doesn’t really give a good picture if a lawyer cannot really find office space but they are handling clients’ money. “It also becomes an issue of discipline because it doesn’t really give confidence even to the clients as to what would happen in the event that they get awarded vast sums of money but later they can’t even trace their own lawyer,” he said.

Njobvu has since pledged to intensify inspections to ensure all lawyers and law firms comply with legal standards and restore public confidence in the legal profession. Catholic Commission for Justice Peace and national coordinator Lewis Msiyadungu, in an interview, applauded MLS for embarking on the initiative, claiming there are several bogus lawyers going around and duping innocent people, especially poor people. “To ensure that all briefcase lawyers are flushed out of the public domain, it would be very important and that would also be safeguarding the interest of the profession as well as of the poor citizens,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Njobvu said the society would not immediately take action against lawyers allegedly involved in the controversial Amaryllis Hotel deal until all due process is followed through its disciplinary structures. He explained any action can only be triggered after a formal complaint is submitted to the society through its disciplinary committee which independently handles professional misconduct cases involving legal practitioners. Njobvu said the society’s disciplinary committee operates autonomously and is mandated to assess complaints by summoning all parties involved, including any lawyers mentioned in the deal, to present their side of the story before a determination is made. The development comes amid growing public scrutiny over the role of legal professionals in the disputed Amaryllis Hotel purchase by the Public Service Pension Trust Fund which prompted the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to launch a public inquiry.

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