ABU DHABI // A lawyer had his fees reduced from Dh10 million to Dh2.5 million by the appeals civil court for overcharging his client.
The court heard that the client was promised a share of a Dh50 million inheritance that was bequeathed to him and his brothers.
Although he expected more, he ended up receiving Dh5 million of it.
The lawyer, however, had calculated his fees based on the whole sum of the inheritance, which was worth more than Dh1 billion.
So, the client paid Dh10 million in legal fees to the lawyer, yet only received half of this back.
The client said he had paid the fee before he received his inheritance as he was not fully aware of the law.
The court of first instance rejected his first lawsuit, but the appeals court backed his claims.
It found that as the lawyer had only spent nine months working on the lawsuit, he did not deserve Dh10 million in fees.
hdajani@thenational.ae
