The Ruling on the Profession of Advocacy

Question:
This person asks, saying: I heard that there is a person who opened an office in Riyadh for issuing fatwas, and he takes a financial fee for that. He asks about the permissibility of that, and it seems he means the consultants to whom some cases are presented?

Answer:
I have not heard that anyone opened an office for issuing fatwas; I have not heard of this. But consultants, these can be found in abundance. Perhaps he means lawyers, maybe.
Lawyers have a different matter. They are the ones who act on behalf of the parties in disputes. These people must learn the methods of litigation and what they use as evidence for their claims. This is a second matter. The matter of advocacy is agency, meaning we do not know of any harm in it.
But the lawyer—and he is the agent—must fear Allah, and he must seek the truth, and his concern must not be obtaining his fee, even if it is through lying, or even through deception. It is obligatory for him to fear Allah and to be with the truth. If the opposing party is in the wrong—and he knows that he is in the wrong—it is not permissible for him to help him with his falsehood. In the authentic hadith: .
And in the other hadith: A third hadith: If he knows that his client is claiming a falsehood, it is not permissible for him to be his lawyer or his agent. Rather, it is obligatory for him to rebuke him for this. But if he is seeking the truth and wants to establish the claim with truth, not with falsehood, and he is an agent in that, then it is permissible.