NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

269 CIVIL PROCEDURE LAW Joint Liability Arising from the Payment of Attorneys’ Fees in accordance with the Attorneys’ Law in Light of the Decision of the Court of Cassation General Assembly on the Unification of Judgments* Att. Ece Özsü Introduction The Court of Cassation General Assembly on the Unification of Judgments (“CCGAUJ”) has ruled with its decision numbered 2017/6 E. 2018/9 K. and dated 05.10.2018 (“Decision”) that the contractual attorney fee that must be paid to the attorney in accordance with the attorney fee agreement between the attorney and client, is not included in the attorney fee that both parties will be responsible for the pay- ment of in favor of the other party’s attorney, “in cases concluded with an agreement, and that are left without further follow-up,” which is regulated in Article 165 of Attorneys’ Law numbered 1136 (“Law”) , and which is a joint liability situation of the fee. The Decision was published in the Official Gazette dated 20.03.2019 and numbered 30720 1 . In this article, the concept and types of attorney fees and liability issues related to their payment shall be discussed, and then the justifi- cation of the Decision shall be examined. Attorney Fees and Types Advocacy is a public service. However, a private law relationship is established between an attorney who provides legal assistance to his/ her client for a fee and the business owner (client). In the doctrine, it is accepted that this relationship is a special type of contract of mandate set out in the Turkish Code of Obligations numbered 6098 (“TCO”). * Article of July, 2020 1 Please see: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2019/03/20190320-8.pdf