Tahniah diucapkan kepada para peguam Anwar yang sanggup berkhidmat tanpa mengutip sebarang upah walaupun sampai ada yang akan dipenjara. Walaubagaimanapun, mereka semua ini semakin popular dan disambut dan disalami oleh orang ramai yang mengenali mereka. Berbeza dengan pendapat PM bahawa karier peguam yang hina kerana membela penjenayah, mereka ini membukikan sebaliknya. Karier ini juga ada nobility dan kemuliaannya jika mengikut landas keadilan dan perjuangan yang hakiki.

Let's hope they will be "paid" and "reimburse" in other ways later.

Sedutan Berita Oleh NST Singapura.

The lawyers are not collecting payment from Anwar, as they are all in the trial to ensure that justice is done

By BRENDAN PEREIRA IN KUALA LUMPUR

ONE million ringgit (S$440,000) in legal fees has already been chalked up by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's nine-lawyer defence team. But the sum will never be collected.

The lawyers have decided to forgo payment.

Mr Gurbachan Singh, a noted criminal lawyer, said: "It may sound corny to some. But we are all in it for justice. It is not about Anwar Ibrahim. It is about ensuring that justice is done."

The Straits Times understands that the lawyers have given an undertaking to defend the former Deputy Premier in all the five charges of corruption and five charges of sodomy brought against him, a commitment which will fill their court calendar until June.

It is learnt that a rough calculation of legal fees -- for the past 34 days of trial and the preparation that has been put into the case before the hearing began on Nov 2 -- puts the accused about RM1 million out of pocket.

All the team members are sought after in their area of specialty and are in the High Court, Federal Court or Syariah Court nearly every week of the year.

A team member estimates that he will lose about RM500,000 in legal fees by handling Anwar's Case full time for the six months.

But he said: "We know that contrary to what some people say, Datuk Seri Anwar does not have the means to pay all of us. So we are prepared to do this case without any payment." He said the plan was for Anwar to pay disbursements -- cost of photostating, transport and court charges for filing application -- only.

It is learnt that more than 100 lawyers volunteered their services to defend the former DPM after he was sacked from government, but the majority of them did not have many years of experience.

The task of selecting the legal team was left to Anwar's personal lawyer.

He felt the need for a good mix of constitutional, criminal and syariah court lawyers, and picked Mr Christopher Fernando, Mr Raja Aziz Addruse, Mr Gurbachan, Mr S. N. Nair, Mr Pawancheek Marican, Mr Zainur Zakaria, Mr Zulkifli Nordin, Mr Sulaiman Abdullah and Ms Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman.

They have become household names in Malaysia.

Everywhere they go, they are stopped and greeted by people. Their faces are plastered on the pages of all the newspapers and nightly news bulletins.

The value of the unprecedented exposure and the goodwill earned is not lost on the lawyers.

One of them acknowledged: "It is fair to say that all of us are better known today than we were when the case began."

So, has the higher profile sent more clients their way ?