Lawyers denounce operations of foreign lawyers in Medan

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

A Medan lawyers' association is planning to file a report with the government on the operation of foreign lawyers in the city. Having operated in the city, the foreign lawyers representing the families of Mandala plane crash victims have violated Indonesian law and therefore, must be deported, said deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Advocates Foundation (Peradi) Abdul Rahim Hasibuan.

"We will file a report soon with the Medan immigration office, asking them to deport the foreign lawyers for their failure to apply to the Indonesian government for operational licenses," said Hasibuan.

According to Hasibuan, foreign lawyers are required by a law issued in 2004 to apply for an operational license from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Hasibuan would not disclose the names of lawyers who were practicing legal consultancy here without licenses, saying such a disclosure would be unethical.

Foreign law firms operating in Medan include the Nolan Law Office; Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein Law Office, and Speiser Krause and Engstrom Lipscomb, all of which are based in the United States.

Responding to the charge, Robert Nelson, a lawyer with Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein said the firm had earlier forged an alliance with local lawyers in working on the case.

Due to their cooperation with local lawyers, the foreign firms had not violated the law, Nelson said.

One hundred and two passengers were killed in the Mandala crash on Sept. 5, as well as 47 people on the ground. It was the year's worst plane crash.