The end of an emblematic law firm

"Bonn & Schmitt claims to be at the pinnacle of ethics with awards for excellence – it's not fair." These words come from Géraldine* (first name changed by the editors), a more than disappointed client of a highly reputed firm on the Place. And with good reason. She is claiming nearly €20,000 in fees from the firm, and has discovered that Bonn & Schmitt has in fact been under provisional administration since July.

"I entrusted my divorce case to Bonn & Schmitt on the advice of someone close to me, who warmly recommended the firm, " she says. Embroiled in a conflictual divorce for several years, the client is counting on her lawyer to finally bring the proceedings to a close. Last June, the lawyer called her in a hurry. "I was on holiday abroad and the lawyer told me that the case was going to go before the judge and demanded that I pay the bills within a week, otherwise she would file her writ and I wouldn't be represented at the hearing. She held a knife to my throat, and I had to sell my car and family jewellery to pay for everything! Only to realise that, in fact, there was no hearing." Later, she discovered that the lawyer in question had never taken the necessary steps to ask the judge for a hearing. Did the lawyer do this in order to get paid, knowing that the firm would go under?