How
much does a barrister charge?
The fees charged by a barrister would depend
on the complexity of the case, the time spent, his seniority and
experience. In general, the more complicated the case, the more
senior and experienced the barrister, the higher is his fees.
A barrister may freely negotiate with a solicitor the fees he
charges. Back to Top
How does a barrister charge
for attending court?
A barrister's fees for attending court are normally
expressed in terms of "brief" and "refresher".
A brief fee is the fee for the first day of appearance in court
and will normally include the preparation work which includes
perusal of documents and research on the law. Such preparation
work can take from 1 to several days excluding the first day in
court.
A refresher is the fee for each subsequent day
of appearance in court until the hearing finishes and is usually
much lower than the brief fee. For example, for a barrister who
normally charges HK$5,000 per day, his brief fee will be HK$15,000
if the case calls for 2 days of preparation (i.e. HK$5,000 x 2
for preparation plus HK$5,000 for the first day of court appearance).
In this example, the refresher will be HK$5,000 for each additional
day in court. Back to Top
How about the rates of a barrister's
fees for doing other kinds of work?
For other kinds of work, such as advising in
conference or in writing,
drafting legal documents, the fee is usually based on the time
spent. It is not uncommon for barristers to charge on an hourly
basis. Some
barristers include a pre-trial conference in the brief fee; others
charge for conferences separately. You will always be well advised
to enquire before hand whether the brief fee includes a pre-trial
conference. Back to Top
Is a barrister required to
agree his fees in advance for attending court?
Yes. The fees of a barrister to attend court
must be agreed beforehand. This is required by the Code of Conduct
for barristers. Back to Top
For other kinds of work, is
a barrister also required to agree his fees in advance?
There is no requirement in the Code of Conduct
that a barrister must agree his fees in advance for doing other
kinds of work. However, a prudent solicitor will always obtain
from a barrister an indication of at least the range of his fees
for doing an item of work other than court appearances. The solicitor
will then be able to inform the client of this and obtain the
client's consent to engage the barrister for doing a particular
item of work. Back to Top
The fees charged for such work vary as
each piece of work differs in terms of the amount of papers to
be read, the complexity of the legal issues raised and the time
required to resolve various questions which needed to be resolved.
A barrister should not commence work unless and until there is
confirmation that the estimated fee quoted is acceptable to the
client. Back to Top
>>
Next Part
|
