Probe into lawyers’ fees

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 3

Probe into lawyers’ fees

PA Wellington A report on fees charged by lawyers in New Zealand is being prepared by the Consumers' Institute. The director of the injstitute (Mr R. J. Smithies) I said yesterday that the reiport would probably be completed in early August. I The institute had made a similar study of demal fees some years ago. and had now decided to examine the fees charged by other professions. Mr Smithies said that the institute was examining New Zealand and international charges, and had been helped by the Law Society, which had prepared a questionnaire for its members. He was unable to say whether the institute had found any areas of fees it was unhappy about, or whether it would make any recommendations to the Law Society, because it still had some research to complete, i The secretary-general of the Law Society (Mr W. M. Rodgers) said that the institute had sought and received help from the society. The institute was paying close attention to the concept of “scale ” charging, he said, which was the method used for property transactions in particular. The society’s policy was to retain scale charging, instead of charging clients for the actual time taken, in certain areas of legal work. However, if a responsible body such as the Consumers’ Institute made recommendations on any aspects of legal charging, the society would certainly consider them, Mr Rodgers said.