Legal fees

Domane

I recently won my legal case but have a query on my legal fees that I'd like an opinion on before I go back to my legal team.

Two days before my case was heard, my barrister withdrew due to illness. A stand was briefed and represented me in court on the day. I have now received my legal bill and the stand in wants €4,000 for his day's work, which is €500 more than my original barrister charged me for representing me for the past two years. This can't possibly be fair or right? It was not my fault the original guy withdrew nor was I appraised of the stand ins fees until now

MarkAnthony

You should speak to your solicitor who should have been handling all of this.

Grolschevik

Domane wrote:

Two days before my case was heard, my barrister withdrew due to illness. A stand was briefed and represented me in court on the day. I have now received my legal bill and the stand in wants €4,000 for his day's work, which is €500 more than my original barrister charged me for representing me for the past two years. This can't possibly be fair or right? It was not my fault the original guy withdrew nor was I appraised of the stand ins fees until now

You sure it's not 3500 for your original barrister's work (assuming he hasn't been paid yet), plus 500 for the one day stand in?

Domane

It's €3,500 for my original barrister plus €4000 for the one day stand in. €7,500 in total. My Solicitor said he thinks the fees are "fair and reasonable". While my Solicitor and original barrister did Trojan work, it's the stand in barristers fee that has me gob smacked. Four thousand for one day's work??????

Speedwell

Domane wrote: »

It's €3,500 for my original barrister plus €4000 for the one day stand in. €7,500 in total. My Solicitor said he thinks the fees are "fair and reasonable". While my Solicitor and original barrister did Trojan work, it's the stand in barristers fee that has me gob smacked. Four thousand for one day's work??????

When I worked for a print shop, we used to call it a "rush charge" and charged anywhere from 200 to 400 percent of the base retail price, depending on how fast the customer needed it. If the customer needed it that quickly because another print shop dropped the ball, it did not affect the fact that it was a rush job for us.

hullaballoo

The fee structures can seem a bit out of kilter. There is an emphasis on brief fees and court attendances, since these are where we do the most important and professionally riskiest work - if we make a small mistake in advance of the matter being set down for hearing, these mistakes can usually be fixed quite easily and cheaply. If we make a mistake during the brief/hearing period, sometimes they cannot be fixed. As a result, the fees for immediately pre-trial and during the trial are more. At the scale you are talking about, you probably had a SC who, by virtue of their professional achievements and capabilities, will charge money for their services.

Your stand-in barrister had to read into a case with no prior involvement that had been ongoing in the courts system for 2+ years and probably a lot longer before that and he had to do that and be fully ready for hearing in a matter of 2 days or less. That's quite a demand on any professional.

FWIW, I don't necessarily agree that fees should be weighted in the way that they are but the above is at least one rationale for it. I would say that the lion's share of the work goes in upon receiving initial instructions in most cases but obviously, it is seen differently by the Taxing Masters.

Carawaystick

Is a barrister not included in the "with particulars in writing of the circumstances in which the client may be required to pay costs to any other party or parties and the circumstances" in a S68 letter?

I mean is a barrister one of the other parties the client will be required to pay.

hullaballoo

I have tried to submit a response from a couple of different devices but I am getting blocked by cloudflare. I am not sure what is particularly controversial about what I am trying to post that cloudflare deems it a threat. Nonetheless, I will post it bit-by-bit and then merge, if it allows me.

hullaballoo

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is a barrister not included in the "with particulars in writing of the circumstances in which the client may be required to pay costs to any other party or parties and the circumstances" in a S68 letter?

I mean is a barrister one of the other parties the client will be required to pay.

No. Barristers are required separately under the Code of Conduct of the Bar of Ireland to provide fee estimates on request. These are not always requested. They probably ought to be.

For the most part, the fee estimate will give an indication of what the barrister's rates will be for expected work arising from any given case. There will be provision in-built to set out rates for unexpected work arising within a case.

The s. 68 reference to "party" and "parties" relates to contentious proceedings where the parties are the litigants. E.g. in the Case of Smith v. Jones (Unrep. fictional), Smith, the Plaintiff, is a party and Jones, the Defendant, is the other party. They are the parties.

Barristers are not bound by the terms of the Solicitors Acts but in relation to fee estimates, the terms that bind members of the Law Library (i.e., not necessarily all barristers) are remarkably similar to the provisions of s. 68:

Code of Conduct of the Bar of Ireland wrote:

12.6 On the taking of instructions to provide legal services, or as soon as
practicable thereafter, a Barrister shall on request, provide to an instructing
solicitor, or the client in the case of access under the Direct Professional Access
Scheme, with particulars in writing confirming:-
(a) the actual charges, or
(b) where the provision of particulars of the actual charges is not in the
circumstances possible or practicable, an estimate (as near as may be) of
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the charges, or
(c) where the provision of particulars of the actual charges or an estimate of
such charges is not in the circumstances possible or practicable, the basis
on which the charges are to be made,
The format of any such particulars shall be at the discretion of each Barrister.

P.S. Cloudflare seems to have taken issue with my saying "reference" twice in the space of a few words. It must be picking up on inelegant phrasing!

Claw Hammer

Domane wrote: »

It's €3,500 for my original barrister plus €4000 for the one day stand in. €7,500 in total. My Solicitor said he thinks the fees are "fair and reasonable". While my Solicitor and original barrister did Trojan work, it's the stand in barristers fee that has me gob smacked. Four thousand for one day's work??????

Did you get a costs order in your favour?
Are you claiming an indemnity from another party in the case?

Carawaystick

hullaballoo wrote: »

The s. 68 reference to "party" and "parties" relates to contentious proceedings where the parties are the litigants. E.g. in the Case of Smith v. Jones (Unrep. fictional), Smith, the Plaintiff, is a party and Jones, the Defendant, is the other party. They are the parties.

thanks,
The Law society mentions at the top of page 2 in https://www.lawsociety.ie/Documents/pdfs/LegalCharges.pdf

"When you get your bill, it will include:
other charges for people or organisations"

it seemed vague to me.