‘Poor lawyers’ cry racism

QUESTIONS about the huge legal bills that lawyers presented to the Namibia Development Corporation for their work as part of a recent disciplinary hearing are nothing but “a racist crusade”, the Namibia Law Association claimed yesterday.

In an unsigned statement under the name of the NLA – faxed from the offices of lawyer Lucius Murorua – the race card was pulled out to launch a colour-tinged counter-attack against question marks raised over the justification for the size of the legal bills that at least two lawyers involved in the NDC hearing sent to the parastatal. Murorua is one of the lawyers who was reveald to have billed the NDC over N$657 000 for what he said was some two months’ work.Fellow lawyer Nate Ndauendapo, who was also involved in the disciplinary hearing, but who estimated that it had amounted to 11 days’ work, billed the NDC more than N$646 000.The major part of both lawyers’ bills was made up of fees charged for “perusal” – that is, reading through written material – at a rate of N$120 per folio, which is 100 words.The two lawyers billed the NDC N$482 880 each for perusing 4 024 folios.Both lawyers have said their bills were in line with Law Society of Namibia guidelines, which state that a lawyer with more than 10 years experience can charge a perusal fee of between N$90 to N$120 per folio.At the same time, the guidelines state that a lawyer can charge for perusal per hour, with a lawyer with more than 10 years’ experience able to charge between N$375 and N$750 an hour.Both Ndauendapo and Murorua chose to charge the NDC per folio – a choice which resulted in a vastly bigger bill, compared to the hourly rate.The Law Society has asked the two to provide the bills in question to the organisation so that it can assess if their fees were reasonable.This step appears to have sparked the statement issued yesterday.In it, it was charged that the NLA condemns the Law Society’s “hypocritical interpretation” or application of its tariff guidelines.White lawyers had for many years charged the sort of fees the NDC was charged, and it was only now that black lawyers want to join the gravy train that the Law Society was making an issue of it, the statement hints.”Black legal practitioners are being made scapegoats and cast in an unduly negative light in the tragic perpetuation of the racist perception that we are not supposed to earn the amounts of income mentioned in the newspaper reports (on the issue).This unfortunately creates the perception in the ‘public mind’ that black practitioners are corrupt and/or greedy, whilst their white counterparts are untainted by any such connotations.”It accused the Law Society of “psychological and defamatory assaults on our members”, and further accuses Law Society President Elise Angula – a black woman – of doing “racist bidding on behalf of” the Law Society.As an NLA member herself she was shocked by the statement, Angula said.She described the statement as “racist and unbelievable” and as “offending”, and said it appeared that individuals were using the NLA for their own, individual causes.Resorting to using the race card and making the matter a black-versus-white issue only created an impression that some black lawyers did not like being held accountable, and preferred to resort to racism when they were asked to give account, she said.The actual issue was whether the fees had been reasonable and in accordance with Law Society rules, she said.They have been asked to provide the Law Society with information on that, and the organisation’s Taxation Committee still has to look into that issue and reach a decision.It would do the same whenever similar complaints about white lawyers’ fees were referred to it, she said.Murorua is one of the lawyers who was reveald to have billed the NDC over N$657 000 for what he said was some two months’ work. Fellow lawyer Nate Ndauendapo, who was also involved in the disciplinary hearing, but who estimated that it had amounted to 11 days’ work, billed the NDC more than N$646 000.The major part of both lawyers’ bills was made up of fees charged for “perusal” – that is, reading through written material – at a rate of N$120 per folio, which is 100 words.The two lawyers billed the NDC N$482 880 each for perusing 4 024 folios.Both lawyers have said their bills were in line with Law Society of Namibia guidelines, which state that a lawyer with more than 10 years experience can charge a perusal fee of between N$90 to N$120 per folio.At the same time, the guidelines state that a lawyer can charge for perusal per hour, with a lawyer with more than 10 years’ experience able to charge between N$375 and N$750 an hour.Both Ndauendapo and Murorua chose to charge the NDC per folio – a choice which resulted in a vastly bigger bill, compared to the hourly rate.The Law Society has asked the two to provide the bills in question to the organisation so that it can assess if their fees were reasonable.This step appears to have sparked the statement issued yesterday.In it, it was charged that the NLA condemns the Law Society’s “hypocritical interpretation” or application of its tariff guidelines.White lawyers had for many years charged the sort of fees the NDC was charged, and it was only now that black lawyers want to join the gravy train that the Law Society was making an issue of it, the statement hints.”Black legal practitioners are being made scapegoats and cast in an unduly negative light in the tragic perpetuation of the racist perception that we are not supposed to earn the amounts of income mentioned in the newspaper reports (on the issue).This unfortunately creates the perception in the ‘public mind’ that black practitioners are corrupt and/or greedy, whilst their white counterparts are untainted by any such connotations.”It accused the Law Society of “psychological and defamatory assaults on our members”, and further accuses Law Society President Elise Angula – a black woman – of doing “racist bidding on behalf of” the Law Society.As an NLA member herself she was shocked by the statement, Angula said.She described the statement as “racist and unbelievable” and as “offending”, and said it appeared that individuals were using the NLA for their own, individual causes.Resorting to using the race card and making the matter a black-versus-white issue only created an impression that some black lawyers did not like being held accountable, and preferred to resort to racism when they were asked to give account, she said.The actual issue was whether the fees had been reasonable and in accordance with Law Society rules, she said.They have been asked to provide the Law Society with information on that, and the organisation’s Taxation Committee still has to look into that issue and reach a decision.It would do the same whenever similar complaints about white lawyers’ fees were referred to it, she said.