THIS week once again, the faces of leading barristers, with six and seven figure sums adorning them, have featured in the newspapers, following the decision of a Taxing Master to allow Mr Larry Goodman his legal fees of almost £7 million.
How do barristers come to earn such money, and how do they justify it?
The Bar Council, the body which represents and regulates the profession, is normally more than willing to discuss barristers' earnings and expenses with the media. But this week its chairman, Mr James Nugent, said he could not do so at the moment because the Government had said it was appealing against the Taxing Master's decision.
The Bar Council has conducted a number of surveys of its member earnings and expenses. The factors which affect barristers' earnings are the different markets in the different branches of law, the ability of the client to pay, and what is at stake in the case.
Of these the most important is ability to pay. The one rule which applies is that where a lot of money is at stake, there is a lot of money to be made.
The most lucrative branch of the law, where most of the big earners are concentrated, is commercial. This accounts for 20 per cent of the income of the Bar as a whole, though only a small proportion of barristers work mainly in this area.
"The difference between a best and worst case scenario in a commercial case could be £1 million or £1 1/2 million," said one barrister. "It's worth the client's while to pay the money to get the best they can. In business, executive directors are paid in hundreds of thousands of pounds, so it would not come as a surprise to them to have to pay that for the best advice."
Most cases do not run for more than a week or two, and some are settled out of court. A barrister charges a "brief fee" for accepting the case, which covers the preparation of the case and the first day in court, and is the equivalent of two days in court. Subsequent days are charged as "refresher days".
Thus, at the rates charged by the lawyers for Mr Goodman, a senior counsel could expect to earn about £50,000 for two weeks in a commercial case, and a junior about £35,000. It's an awful lot of money, but it would not look like that to a business which had gained £1 million when it won.
The most voluminous area of law is personal injuries, which accounts for 40 per cent of the income of the Bar.
While the fees in personal injuries cases are not as high as in commercial cases, there is a huge volume of them, and leading personal injuries barristers could be handling about 10 cases a week. There are a large number of settlements out of court, so a barrister can do two or more a day.
The individual fees are not spectacular, and they reflect the scale of the damages. Cases involving sums of £30,000 or less are heard in the Circuit Court where senior counsel are not needed, and the briefing fee for the junior would be about £350 to £400. The case would be unlikely to go into a second day.
In a High Court action, involving a larger sum, the briefing fee for the senior would be about £750, and that of the junior £500. With frequent settlements out of court, they could be earning up to £7,500 and £5,000 respectively, a week while the courts were sitting, though the numbers earning this kind of money are small.
Crime, family law, conveyancing, probate, constitutional law all go to make up the work done which brings in the remaining 40 per cent of the income of the Bar. Most barristers have a mixed practice.
Crime is seen as the glamorous end of the law. But it is the worst paid. "If you ask a final year Bar class what they want to do the majority will say crime. But that changes when they see the reality of the pay," said the barrister already quoted.
More than 90 per cent of crime legal work is State funded. The lawyers on the prosecution side work for the State, and the majority of criminals are eligible for legal aid, so most defence lawyers are also paid by the State.
A "run of the mill" case in the Circuit Criminal Court will have junior counsel on both sides. They will get £450 to £500 for the case, with about £250 a day for second and subsequent days.
Some family law is also State funded. The Department of Justice negotiated fees for civil legal aid with the Bar Council based on an hourly rate. These are £44 an hour for senior counsel and £31.50 for junior, with £61 for "special cases".
Those not eligible for legal aid must pay, and the rates are usually a little above the legal aid levels. However, some family law, cases involve disentangling a lot of property, including, for example, jointly owned companies.
"Rich people's family law" is costly, and fees compare with those in the commercial area. Even in family law the rule applies that where there is a lot of money at stake there is a lot of money to be made by the lawyers.
Only a small proportion of barristers earn six figure sums, and, according to one source, it is very hard to turn over the £500,000 a year earned by the top seniors in the beef tribunal.
The big earners also have big expenses. The Bar Council survey found that barristers' expenses were about 25 per cent of their earnings. Barristers also have to organise their own pensions and provide for sickness, which would cost about 15 per cent of their income.
The average earnings are, according to a Bar Council source, about £30,000 - not dissimilar to those in other professions.
However, it should be pointed out that Mr Dermot Gleeson, for example, took the cases of Mr Kenneth Best and Mr John Hanrahan against major international corporations with no certainty of ever being paid. Most leading practitioners take such worthy cases on a "no foal, no fee" basis.