Do we really need lawyers? Courts don't always favour govt, says chief justice

 Dread going to the lawyers for a simple sales-and-purchase agreement? Ever wish you could divorce your spouse from the comfort of your living room? If so, then you’re in luck.

A lawyer is attempting to make his profession “obsolete” — in certain matters — by developing template agreements and apps that people can use themselves instead of relying on lawyers to handle property purchases, divorces, or the preparation of wills.

Edmund Bon (pic) explained that documents such as sales and purchase (S&P) agreements for property purchases, uncontested wills and probate, accident claims, divorce petitions as well as mitigation and bail in criminal cases are not as complicated as imagined.

In fact, he said, these are generally standardised to such an extent that they that can be prepared by the general public once they have access to the documents’ framework.

“It’s do-it-yourself law,” Bon told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

Read the full article here.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria had this morning said:

“It’s far from true to say the decisions of our courts have always found favour with the government of the day."

Read 'Court verdicts don't always side government' for full article.