Let me pitch in to follow follow the Gers money trail
Probe into firms’ legal fees
Jim Diamond is offering his services to creditors free of charge and says lawyers at one firm, Stephenson Harwood, earned £1000 per hour for work on the case.
Diamond cited research which showed the London firm recorded more than £700,000 profit per partner annually.
It follows criticism by the club’s former stadium announcer of fees paid to f inancia l exper ts untangling the club’s debts.
Companies handling the collapse have pocketed nearly £ 20m i l l ion in charges while creditors – including thousands of fans – have received just £1.4million.
Diamond, a legal lyqual i f ied professional known as a costs lawyer, said: “I’m prepared to offer my services to creditors free of charge to do a preliminary investigation into whether the legal fees in the case are reasonable.
“When you look at the revenue these firms are generating, it’s eye-watering.
“This case is indicative of what the system does – stitch up the common man or woman.
“I would be wi l l ing to offer my experience to try to unravel what has become an unnecessarily complex matter.”
It’s been reported that Stephenson Harwood have been paid £8.2million over the Ibrox side’s demise.
Diamond said: “The work was agreed under a CFA – conditional fee agreement – which, in layman’s terms, is a no-win, no-fee agreement.
“You can get 100 per cent on top of your rate and these lawyers are on about £500 per hour for this. This firm will be on around £1000 per hour for partner work in this case and you have to ask who on earth agreed this and why.”
We told how former Rangers stadium announcer Adrian Coll criticised the fees after he got a fraction of what he was owed.
Ex- Clyde 1 DJ Adrian was owed £1600 but received about £50 after a payment of just under 4p in the pound was sanctioned.
A list of 276 creditors was published six years ago. Adrian said he’d only recently received his payment.
Accountants BDO acted as joint liquidators and handled the insolvency.
Since the club went into administrat ion under former owner Craig Whyte in February 2012, legal firms acting for BDO have received nearly £10.4million.
The liquidator bill stood at £ 4.1million in April this year.
A large chunk of the Stephenson Harwood fees were over settlement of a claim against Col lyer Bristow, the sol icitors involved in Why te’s takeover of the club. It was revealed in 2014 that liquidators had banked £24million for creditors with just £8.2million left to distribute to those who lost money.
The collapse of Rangers left thousands of creditors out of pocket, including more than 6000 fans who bought £7.7million worth of debenture seats at Ibrox.
A spokesman for BDO said: “BDO’s fees are entirely in line with standard industry practice and have been scrutinised and approved by the creditors committee.”
Stephenson Harwood decl ined to comment.