Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain. File photo

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain yesterday said law profession has now become a business.

Lawyers in the past would not charge extra other than fixed fees, he said, adding that lawyers should have at least 10 percent pro bono cases, as practicing law is a service profession.

The chief justice made the remark while presiding over a six-member full bench of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division for virtually dealing with several jail appeals filed by poor convicts.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain told senior lawyer and criminal law expert Md Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury that senior lawyers like him should move pro bono cases.

Justice Muhammad Imman Ali, a senior most member of the apex court bench, said lawyers' licences are to be renewed every year in different countries of the world. The lawyers have to show that they have moved some cases without any cost; otherwise their licences are not renewed, he said.

Lawyer Munsurul told the apex court that the honorariums given to the state defence lawyers are very poor.

If the honorariums are hiked, the lawyers will be encouraged to move cases, including the jail appeals of the poor litigants, sincerely, he said.

The lawyer told The Daily Star that the poor convicts, who cannot afford lawyers, file jail appeals through jail authorities.

Such convicts in prison need to be provided with cost-free legal service, he added.