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Duyong Adun offers free legal advice, 70 percent of cases settled

Realising that not everyone can afford legal advice from law firms, Duyong state assemblyman Damian Yeo Shen Li has taken the initiative to offer the service free of charge to the people in his constituency and its surrounding areas.

He said those who need legal advice could go to the Duyong State Assembly Development and Coordination Committee (Japerun) office every Wednesday from 8pm to 10pm.

“This is one of my ways of serving the people as an assemblyman to help those who are facing legal issues.

“The response has been encouraging, so much so that the complaint counter needs to stay open until late at night to help the people,” he told Bernama today.

Yeo has 18 years’ experience as a lawyer.

He said he started giving free legal advice in 2014, when he and two other DAP lawyers, Goh Leong Chong and Betty Chew, set up a legal bureau in Lorong Pandan, Melaka.

“The bureau was proposed by the former Melaka DAP chairman Sim Tong Him,” he said,

Yeo said after the 14th General Election in May 2018, he started to provide free legal advice to the people of Duyong.

Since then, he has handled 237 complaints with an average of 34 people per month.

The law graduate from the University of London explained that the complaints covered a wide range of issues, including family-related matters such as divorce and child custody.

“We have also received complaints involving government-related bodies such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Syarikat Air Melaka Bhd, work-related issues, breach of contract, property and others,” he added.

Yeo said he would first try to resolve the problem by sending a letter to the party concerned and if possible, would settle the matter without going to court.

So far, his office has managed to settle about 70 percent of the cases.

- Bernama

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