Clansman legal fees could reach $50 million
The Clansman gang trial now under way in the Home Circuit Court is likely to cost taxpayers in the region of $50 million for the legal fees of the alleged gangsters.
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, said that the trial is likely to take months. He noted that $55 million was paid to lawyers in the Uchence Wilson gang trial.
The average fee paid to the 28 attorneys-at-law for that trial, which ran intermittently for 19 months, was just under $2 million.
“If we continue at that rate, where even the present trial going on, the estimate is that it will be $50 million,” the minister said.
At the start of the ClansmanOne Don gang trial, senior lawyer Lloyd McFarlane, called for the Government to allocate more money to pay legal aid lawyers engaged in the trial.
“I know the Registrar has been trying, but I raise it just to bounce it off your Lordship, so to speak, so that persons may understand that we have months ahead of us, it will be affecting our practices, and we still believe that there should be some further review in terms of what is being offered to us,” the senior attorney said.
Chuck told Parliament yesterday that the Andrew Holness-chaired Cabinet has decided to increase the compensation of attorneys “who have to leave their private practice and assist indigent accused persons in their criminal trials”.
The Clansman- One Don gang trial will see $300,000 being paid to senior lawyers in the first 30 days of the trial, which falls to $200,000 for subsequent months. However, they will not be able to earn more than $1.2 million.
Junior lawyers will be paid $150,000 for their first month, and $100,000 in subsequent months, up to $800,000.
Previously, the legal aid fee that is paid for appearance for criminal matters such as murder was $135,000 for senior lawyers. It is to be doubled to $270,000. The fees paid to junior attorneys will also be doubled, from $90,000 to $180,000.
Chuck described the amounts being paid to lawyers who provide legal aid as “insufficient”, but said that the Government has to “control” the amount of contribution that is being made.
“If we really provide what the attorneys are asking for, one trial could use up the legal aid bill provided by this house,” he said.