Taxing Master said master forces set fees

"CINDERELLAS without a Prince Charming to protect them" was Lord Hailsham's description of barristers and other professions in his memoirs. He was quoted by the Taxing Master of the High Court, Mr James Flynn, in his ruling last Tuesday as justification for approving costs incurred by Mr Larry Goodman and Goodman International during the beef tribunal.

Lord Hailsham was just one of many legal and other sources referred to by Mr Flynn as part of his argument for allowing such high fees as were claimed by the lawyers and others involved.

He explained that "a fee that market forces dictate as reasonable in the circumstances is to be considered reasonable and fees that fall beyond the market parameters should be considered unreasonable".

He elaborated that "in determining what the fee should be, the Taxing Master takes the approach of the reasonable solicitor acting reasonably carefully and reasonably prudently in agreeing what a fee should be and that fee being acceptable to the particular counsel in question".

On Wednesday, when dealing with Mr Pat Rabbitte's and Mr Tomas Mac Giolla's legal costs, he said "the nature and enormity of the case and the responsibility resting on the solicitor ultimately determine the justification of the fee and is an integral part of assembling what is the fair and appropriate fee in any given case".

Later the same morning he said that "the size of the legal bill which the client eventually receives depends in no small measure on a number of factors; the amount of time spent in doing the work is only one. Other significant factors which affect the ultimate size of the bill are the skill, knowledge and effort involved".

In the same ruling he explained why he felt an hourly rate would be inadequate. "The time factor amount will sufficiently reimburse the solicitor for the physical expenditure of time but it is no measure for the mental demands or strain the case places on the solicitor."

Concluding his ruling on Tuesday, he was clear. "If the Oireachtas institutes an inquiry it must be accepted that it will incur costs." The costs in the instance were "a result of the wide terms of reference and the scope and extent of the investigation which the Oireachtas directed but must be viewed [also] in relation to the work that was done".

However, it is probably his quote from the poet Alexander Pope on Tuesday which most accurately sums up public reaction to the approved costs. "Tis with our judgements as our watches, none go just alike, yet each believes his own."