Watchdogs: We are most troubled by £1m win fee charged by top advocate
Tycoon will demand repayment of seven-figure bill after ruling
A leading lawyer has been found guilty of “unsatisfactory professional conduct” after charging a client an extra fee of almost £1 million.
Advocate Jonathan Brown had originally billed Aberdeen oil tycoon Robert Kidd £1.1m for representing him in a successful £20m damages action against another firm of solicitors.
However Mr Kidd complained to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) after discovering the size of the £990,000 “success fee” added to Mr Brown’s final account.
Now the experienced advocate could be ordered to repay a seven-figure sum plus legal costs. The case arose after Mr Kidd hired lawyers, including Mr Brown, to sue his former solicitors over the sale of his oil firm ITS. Mr Kidd said Mr Brown had failed to tell their QC Andrew Smith details of the arrangement which brought his total bill to £2m.
The SLCC referred the complaint to Mr Brown’s professional body, The Faculty of Advocates, which held a hearing last month. Their Disciplinary (Complaint) Committee has now made a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct against Mr Brown.
They ruled Mr Brown should have informed Mr Smith that he had an arrangement with Mr Kidd by which his fee increased according to the amount recovered from the opponent, and how the amount on which the success fee was measured should be calculated.
The faculty has now asked Mr Kidd what sanction he would like to see against Mr Brown. Mr Kidd’s spokesman Jim Diamond said: “We’re very happy with the decision of unsatisfactory professional misconduct. We want the success fee repaid in full plus interest at 8%. We will also be seeking repayment of our legal fees in this matter which could amount to more than £100,000.”
The success fee complaint was the fourth among seven brought by Mr Kidd against Mr Brown at the August hearing. In their judgment the Disciplinary (Complaints) Committee said: “The fourth complaint is the one by which we have been most troubled. The charge laid against Mr Brown is that he failed to act in the best interests of Mr Kidd.
“An advocate must always act in the best interests of his client and must put those interests before his own interests. To fee on the basis of the feeing arrangements most beneficial to his own interests was, we consider, at least unsatisfactory professional conduct.”
The faculty also found Mr Brown guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct for making abusive remarks about Mr Smith in an email.
Two other complaints were sisted, meaning they can be heard at a later date, and three were dismissed.
Mr Brown’s bill was part of £6m in fees charged by Glasgow-based lawyers Levy & McRae to Mr Kidd for their services. In December The Sunday Post reported how Kidd had made 23 complaints to the SLCC over the bill. The SLCC in turn ruled that 21 were worthy of investigation.
The Faculty of Advocates’ judgment is the latest episode in Mr Kidd’s long-running dispute with Levy & McRae and Mr Brown. In May 2018 Mr Kidd hired Mr Diamond, who is a legal costs expert, to assess the fees charged.
The oilman raised an action two months later at the Court of Session in Edinburgh for the return of the success fees. In January this year Lord Doherty ruled the success fee agreement was unenforceable.
Levy & McRae, which has a number of high-profile clients, including former First Minister Alex Salmond, is appealing Lord Doherty’s ruling. Both the firm and Mr Brown declined to comment.
The Faculty of Advocates said: “The complaints process is not yet complete. It would be inappropriate to comment meantime.”