"ON THE BRIEF."

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1039, 11 June 1924, Page 12

"ON THE BRIEF."

BIG EARNINGS AT THE BAR. SOME FAMOUS FEES. Some huge fees are to be earned at the Bar, but they are seldom attained until a barrister has gone through years of hard work and perseverance. Many of the world's foremost pleaders have known what it is to be briefless and several were forced during their early days to rely upon some other form of employment for their bread and butter. But once a barrister has reached the pinnacle of fame ho is on the way to wealth. W. 13. Bailey holds the "on the brief" record for Australia. His fee for talcing part in a ease in Brisbane some years bi'ck was a thousand guineas, while ill the Lawless case at Maitland he received 700 guineas. In each of these cases his total earnings would represent a large fortune to the average man in the street. But against the fees paid abroad these are mere flea-bites. Lord Brampton was offered £50,000 to conduct the defence of the Gaekwur of Baroda when the Indian was charged with attempting to poison Colonel I'hayro, the British Resident in Baroda, but. ho finally turned the brief down because it involved going to India. This brief was accepted in the end by Sergeant Ballantyne, who received a fee of 10,000 guineas. A similar amount was paid to Mr Barring-ton Ward, K.C., for going to Egypt to conduct the defence of a wealthy Albanian charged with attempting to murder' Lord Allenby. THE COAL VEND CASE.

The record, however, is held by an English barrister who was practising in Calcutta. Mr Paterson received 100,000 rupees, or £24,000, for defending Toree Persand, a famous English contractor, and in addition his refresher fees totalled 10,000 rupees (£2400). Cases in which enormous "on the brief" fees are paid, however, ire not neoesuarily the most costly. Such fees are i.aid only in big criminal cases and the actions or/ly lc=t for days, weeks or months, but commercial cases frequently drag on for years. Such an action was that which commenced in Sydney seventeen years ago, and terminated only about 1921. It involved the City Bank, and the total fees amounted to £30,000. Yet there is another famous Australian commercial case m vvhich the co.'ts were a great deal higher. Twelve counsel took part in -vhat is known as the Vend Case, and when the matter was finally decided the costs totalled i'ST/'- 1 .

But this lecord is ea:j ; ly eclipsed by a famous English action. Wy.er v. L->wis reached the House of Lords -n 1310, oi.d when judgment was delivered it was found that the costs amounted to £87,000.