Few complaints about lawyers overcharging

Press, 13 April 1982, Page 4

Few complaints about lawyers overcharging

PA Wellington Legal fees can range from $4O an hour to as much as $l5O an hour but there are few complaints of overcharging, according to the president of the Wellington District Law Society. Mr W. Gendall. He was commenting on a complaint against a Wellington lawyer in a newsletter distributed by the Equal Parental Rights Society. The newsletter said the lawyer charged $BO an hour and quoted the Law Society as saying this figure was fair. Mr Gendall said his

society might receive one query about fees each week. In many cases these were from people who were merely asking whether the fees were justified. Many of these complaints were resolved once the lawyers itemised their accounts.

It showed a need for clients and lawyers to communicate better, he said.

In instances where charges were considered a little high, lawyers approached by the society invariably adjusted their bill. In the few cases he knew of this might have meant a reduction of. say. $lOO on a $5OO account. He knew of no cases where charges were considered so grossly excessive as to justify proceedings on the grounds of professional misconduct. If no settlement was made through mediation, a client had the right to seek a tax on the bill, where a. High

Court registrar could assess a fair fee.

The general secretary of the New Zealand Law Society (Mr W. M. Rodger) said it took anything up to $3O an hour a partner in a law firm to cover overheads before the partnership made any profit.

These overheads included rent, office equipment and salaries to staff employed by the partnership. He said a practice with five partners might need to make $l5O an hour just to cover overheads and that not all the time spent by lawyers was productive. A survey of lawyers showed that in the year to March. 1980. the average lawyer made just over $31,000 a vear.

"But we're not talking about the average wage. Were talking about members of a profession who have taken many years to qualify." Mr Rodgers said.