Lawyers want taxpayers to fork out for rise in fees
Bodies lobbying in bid to reverse cuts to payments made to barristers and solicitors, writes
LAWYERS are seeking major hikes in fees paid by the State to solicitors and barristers.
Representative bodies have been lobbying over the past year in a bid to reverse cuts imposed for criminal defence and prosecution work during the financial crisis.
The Law Society, which represents solicitors, is seeking increases of up to 26pc to bring fees back to pre-crash levels, while the Bar of Ireland, representing barristers, is seeking the restoration of a 10pc reduction in fees imposed in October 2011.
The moves comes despite ongoing criticism of the cost of legal services in Ireland from the European Commission and the National Competitiveness Council.
Even after rates were slashed during the recession, senior barristers still earn up to €1,562 a day in the Central Criminal Court and €858 a day in the Circuit Court, while solicitors earn €750 and €418 a day in same courts.
Records released to the Irish Independent under Freedom of Information rules reveal four barristers earned in excess of
€500,000 solely from criminal defence and prosecution work last year.
Three more earned in excess of €400,000 and 10 were paid over €300,000.
Meanwhile, 12 law firms specialising in criminal defence law had earnings in excess of
€500,000.
However, the legal professions say rates paid by the Director of Public Prosecutions and under the Criminal Legal Aid schemes are not sustainable, with practitioners deserting criminal law as it is more much lucrative to practise in the civil courts.
While criminal defence and prosecution fees were slashed during the recession, sums charged by lawyers for civil cases have increased considerably over the past decade.
A barrister specialising in High Court litigation said senior counsels can charge brief fees of up to €20,000 to prepare for a case and refresher fees of up to €5,000 a day thereafter, with junior counsels charging up to two-thirds of those rates.
Fees can be even higher in Commercial Court cases dealing with disputes where large sums of money or assets are at stake, with some top barristers able to command brief fees of €45,000.
Bar of Ireland chief executive Ciara Murphy said professional fees levels paid to barristers had been slashed by between 28.5pc and 69pc since 2008 and that the cuts imposed were significantly in excess of those imposed on public sector workers.
She said the Director of Public Prosecutions had resisted further cuts in fees during a review by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as this would risk the quality of the service provided. “The stark reality is that barristers are now operating at fee levels approximate with those which applied in 2002,” she said. “Such fees bear no reality to the complexity and volume of work now required in 2017.”
Law Society director general Ken Murphy said firms specialising in criminal legal aid were finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain staff as they can earn considerably more from other legal work.
He also claimed the workload and complexity of criminal law case work had increased to the extent it was becoming unviable for some firms.
Mr Murphy said cuts to the Criminal Legal Aid schemes, under which lawyers are paid for defence work, had been “accepted without complaint”.
But he said the cuts had come with political assurances there would be a restoration of rates once economic circumstances improved.
“Restoration is already under way, in public pay and elsewhere, in the financial emergency cuts made by the State,” he said.
Lobbying records show Mr Murphy separately met former justice minister Frances Fitzgerald and the chief executive of the Legal Aid Board, John McDaid, in the latter half of last year to discuss criminal legal aid rates.
Ciara Murphy met Department of Justice assistant secretary Conan McKenna about the same issue earlier this year. She also sent a submission to Ms Fitzgerald, the department’s secretary general Noel Waters and Mr Kenna in late 2016.
Ms Murphy told the Irish Independent the Bar of Ireland hoped to progress its calls for the reversal of the 2011 10pc pay cut in the coming months with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
The Law Society is seeking increases of up to 26pc