ARE YOU NOT A LAWYER, TOO, ATTY. KIM HENARES?
ARE YOU NOT A LAWYER, TOO,
ATTY. KIM HENARES?
Is it not that BIR Commissioner Kim Henares is a lawyer, too, that she is an officer of the court and is bound to obey what the Supreme Court has said in all cases decided by the Highest Court of the Land?
If that is so, she must have judicial notice of all the pronouncements of the Supreme Court about legal fees and about what truly is a legal profession that IT IS NOT A TRADE OR BUSINESS.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly declared in countless cases:
1. Legal profession is NOT a trade or business;
2. Lawyers are PROHIBITED from advertising;
3. Legal fee charged by each lawyer depends on each lawyer and those fees are paid NOT as payment for any business of service;
4. It is PROHIBITED for any practicing lawyer to drop his fees to beat fellow practicing lawyers by means of rock-bottom fees;
5. There is no standard fee for even the same kind of cases because not all cases are the same with each other in terms of evidence, in terms of legal and factual issues, and every issue of how much shall be paid the lawyer when there is no specific contract will boil down to the quantum meruit principle.
Now, for Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares to compel lawyers to post their fees for every service is to CREATE A MARKETPLACE OF LEGAL SERVICES where competition based on who charge the lowest will be the rule.
Leaders of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) have already expressed their concern that the BIR cannot do what it wants for lawyers.
I will not hesitate to file a petition before the Supreme Court to declare as null and void whatever BIR resolution or circular commanding all lawyers to post their prices for each services.
I admire BIR Commissioner Kim Henares for being a non-stop creative taxwoman. Previously, she resorted to SHAME CAMPAIGN by means of announcing to the whole world that teachers who earn lesser pay more in taxes than lawyers and doctors. BUT BEFORE THAT, she announced that she will send out trolls or poseur-clients to visit every law office and try to catch the exact amounts charged by lawyers from clients.
Obviously, when all these tricks showed no good result, she now wants to burn the house because there are rats there that cannot be rid out.
Oh by the way, Kim is a lawyer, too. Has she actually tried private practice that she thinks all if not most private practitioners are cheating on their fees from clients?
Has she forgotten that the lawyer-client privilege is not a one-way street that lawyers also have the right to demand clients to shut their mouth when asked on matters involved in their engagement?
Has Kim tried to actively present evidence in court and attend daily hearings that many lawyers would sometimes find their clients not paying for agreed appearance fees and yet the judges will punish lawyers if they will tell the truth to the courts that their clients are no longer paying them?
Has Kim experienced the difficulties experienced by practicing lawyers who dedicated a major part of their time to pro bono services?
What I know of Kim is that she has not actually have extensive practice debating and presenting witnesses in courts.
So please scrap that idiotic circular, Ma'am Kim.
To read the news where Kim announced they will issue a circular requiring all lawyers and doctors to post their fees in their law offices and clinics, respectively, click it here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/480445/doctors-lawyers-professionals-must-post-rates-at-offices-birhttp://newsinfo.inquirer.net/480445/doctors-lawyers-professionals-must-post-rates-at-offices-bir.
ATTY. KIM HENARES?
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| BIR Commissioner Kim Henares |
If that is so, she must have judicial notice of all the pronouncements of the Supreme Court about legal fees and about what truly is a legal profession that IT IS NOT A TRADE OR BUSINESS.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly declared in countless cases:
1. Legal profession is NOT a trade or business;
2. Lawyers are PROHIBITED from advertising;
3. Legal fee charged by each lawyer depends on each lawyer and those fees are paid NOT as payment for any business of service;
4. It is PROHIBITED for any practicing lawyer to drop his fees to beat fellow practicing lawyers by means of rock-bottom fees;
5. There is no standard fee for even the same kind of cases because not all cases are the same with each other in terms of evidence, in terms of legal and factual issues, and every issue of how much shall be paid the lawyer when there is no specific contract will boil down to the quantum meruit principle.
Now, for Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares to compel lawyers to post their fees for every service is to CREATE A MARKETPLACE OF LEGAL SERVICES where competition based on who charge the lowest will be the rule.
Leaders of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) have already expressed their concern that the BIR cannot do what it wants for lawyers.
I will not hesitate to file a petition before the Supreme Court to declare as null and void whatever BIR resolution or circular commanding all lawyers to post their prices for each services.
I admire BIR Commissioner Kim Henares for being a non-stop creative taxwoman. Previously, she resorted to SHAME CAMPAIGN by means of announcing to the whole world that teachers who earn lesser pay more in taxes than lawyers and doctors. BUT BEFORE THAT, she announced that she will send out trolls or poseur-clients to visit every law office and try to catch the exact amounts charged by lawyers from clients.
Obviously, when all these tricks showed no good result, she now wants to burn the house because there are rats there that cannot be rid out.
Oh by the way, Kim is a lawyer, too. Has she actually tried private practice that she thinks all if not most private practitioners are cheating on their fees from clients?
Has she forgotten that the lawyer-client privilege is not a one-way street that lawyers also have the right to demand clients to shut their mouth when asked on matters involved in their engagement?
Has Kim tried to actively present evidence in court and attend daily hearings that many lawyers would sometimes find their clients not paying for agreed appearance fees and yet the judges will punish lawyers if they will tell the truth to the courts that their clients are no longer paying them?
Has Kim experienced the difficulties experienced by practicing lawyers who dedicated a major part of their time to pro bono services?
What I know of Kim is that she has not actually have extensive practice debating and presenting witnesses in courts.
So please scrap that idiotic circular, Ma'am Kim.
To read the news where Kim announced they will issue a circular requiring all lawyers and doctors to post their fees in their law offices and clinics, respectively, click it here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/480445/doctors-lawyers-professionals-must-post-rates-at-offices-birhttp://newsinfo.inquirer.net/480445/doctors-lawyers-professionals-must-post-rates-at-offices-bir.
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