Cyprus-Forum.com

[PARAMED]

And this thread started about LAWYERS

LETS GET BACK ON TRACK

[moh_omari2]

you are the man paramed thats what iam talking about . but what tracke do you mean

[dinos]

Is there an organization for the legal profession in CY? Surely there is some oversight to keep certain standards in place. If so, then it's advisable to search for attorneys that are members. If not, then use word of mouth to find attorneys with satisfied clients...

[dinos]

Just one more word on the matter of dissatisfaction with professional services. A bit of a thread-jack, but there's a moral to the story.

In y/day's paper here, there's a big to-do about a mortgage guy that screwed people on several property deals which are going into foreclosure. Sometimes, though, a criminal mind is facilitated by the sheer stupidity of the victim. Here's a quick synopsis of two cases:

1. Mortgage company buys house for $470K. Soon after, sells it to a couple for $805K. These people did not have any money. They could not afford the projected mortgage payments. They did not check comparable sales, their lawyer told them not to do it, they didn't say anything when their credit ratings were inflated on the mortgage applications. They were sold a "dream" and did all they could to not let reality tamper with it. UNTIL...a couple years later, they still can't pay the mortgage and they're stuck with an $805K house that just appraised for something like $500K. Yeah, sure, there's a criminal here. But there are also some real bloody idiots on the other side of the table who all but committed the crime for him.

2. A guy whose wife was in a coma, and was in the sh!t money-wise, bought a $1.4M house hoping to fix it up at a profit. He also could not afford the house, but the same mortgage guy told him he'd make the mortgage payments on his behalf. Well, he stopped (surprise, surprise). And now the victim has lost his money and is getting foreclosed. Taking on the expense of a new house, the time and the renovation costs, when someone in the family is that ill...and believing that someone else will take on your responsibility for you...again, how dumb do you have to be?

If the original poster asked a question out of concern for the way something was going, that'd be one thing. But that's not the case - they're asking if someone else got screwed by some particular lawyer. It would be interesting to see the details of what actually happened before the conclusion is reached that they got screwed.

[Niki]

A few months ago I tried to set up a business bank account for our Cyprus company with our bank in the UK. The bank refused to acknowledge any endorsed documents by Cypriot lawyers stating that lawyers were not recognised in the UK.

I am not making a definitive statement here but why are lawyers not recognised here?

I have also heard very worrying stories about lawyers in Cyprus which means you do have to be more careful. In my experience I hear this more about lawyers in Cyprus than I heard about dodgy solicitors in the UK. I'm not discriminating, just stating fact. Maybe there needs to be tighter control, stupid victims aside.

[dinos]

Niki, once you start dabbling with offshore corporations, you're in a whole new league. There are any number of reasons why people would register corporations in Cyprus, from legitimate businesses to potentially fraudulent asset protection schemes (Cyprus is a favorite jurisdiction for this). Dealing with offshore companies requires a level of intelligence and/or experience that most people do not have. I think it's probably more likely that someone at your bank may not have known how to do what you wanted them to do for some technical reason, or they may refuse to deal with foreign attorneys altogether.

I've also heard worrying stories about lawyers in Cyprus. But no more than I've heard about American lawyers. The thing is, you can't just say that you've heard troubling stories and surmise that there's a factual element involved. If anybody can post some factual stats that would indicate there's a real problem with lawyers in CY (for example, an official compendium of lawsuits against Cypriot lawyers that indicates a higher percentage per capita than some other target country), that would be a great place to start. This will hopefully get everyone past basing arguments on anecdotal information (myself included).

I'll agree, though, that regulating the legal profession is the right thing to do as well as smart policy.

Hope you're well...

[DANGAMAN]

Ok... who next!!!

Just thought it was funny.

...no...anyway,

[DINOS SKALIOTIS]

lawyers are as crooked as a barrel of snakes! but then unfortunately so is the average cypriot nowadays, so who cares?

[DT.]

Hello Cheshire Cat . . . lost your smile?

What do you call this you dropped for us then?

Not Personally, but I do know that you have to be VERY careful over in Cyprus.

Why are you advising everyone to be VERY careful over in Cyprus? . . . . Is the rest of the World safe then?

Seems like in CHeshire Cats only 3rd post ever on this forum and she was called a racist!

Methinks someone joined up here with an agenda.

[Get Real!]

B, 18 years of living in Cyprus robbed my of My Nievity,...

Does that include your virginity?