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Judicial fees bill back to Egyptian government

Written by Egypt News Sunday, 22 March 2009 Egyptian political sources reported that the Legislative Committee of the Egyptian People's Assembly will send back the legal fees bill to the Ministry of Justice although most of its articles have been adopted, except the fifth and sixth

The hearing sessions and the discussions highlighted many gaps that made it necessary to reconsider the whole law, said the Egyptian sources, adding that only this way could the Justice Minister's wish come true, i.e. to increase litigation fees to upgrade the courts.

Though, that such a bill should not place any burden on lawyers and clients and should not hinder the right to litigation, they said
Meanwhile, Fathi Sorour, Egypt’s People's Assembly Speaker entrusted the Assembly Council to draw up an analytical report on the hearings held by the Legislative Committee on the legal fees bill, as well as the notes sent to the Committee itself.
He called on the Council to send all this to the Ministry of Justice so that he could express its opinion in writing.
This came during a meeting of the People's Assembly Legislative Committee yesterday. During this meeting, the vice-chairmen of the branch of the Bar Association and legal experts objected to the bill.
The heads of the Bar Association branches said that the draft law was unconstitutional, as it prevented citizens from resorting to court and did not take into account the global economic crisis.
Legal experts, for their part, described the law as an attempt to privatize justice. They pointed out that it would bring about anomalous results, as those filing a lawsuit could be forced to pay much more than what they possibly get if they won in court.
Mohamed Abdel Talab, the head of the Alexandria Bar Association criticized the fact that the bill had not been submitted to the Bar, although Article 1 of the Law on the legal profession set forth that lawyers were free and independent professionals cooperating with the judiciary to achieve justice.
He said the bill would make it too expensive for many people to resort to the court.