BIG EARNINGS AT THE BAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 13 June 1924, Page 2

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, he is on the way to wealth. _ W. B. Dailey holds the “on the brief” record for Australia. His fee for taking part ip a case in Brisbane some years back was a thousand guineas, while in 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 Gaekwar of Baroda when the Indian was charged with attempting to poison Colonel Phayre, the British Resident in Baroda, but he 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 Barrington Ward, K.C., for going to Egypt to conduct the defence of a wealthy Albanian charged with attempting to murder Lord Allenby. The record, however, is held by an English barristor, who was practising ip Calcutta. Mr Paterson received 100,000 rupees, or £24,000, for defending Totee Persand, a famous English contractor, and in addition his refresher fees totalled 10,000 rupees (£2400). Cases in which_ enormous on ilio brief” fees are paid, however, are not necessarily the most costly. Such fees are paid only in big criminal cases, end the actions only last for days, weeks, or months, but commercial cases frequently drag on for years. Such f.n 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 in which the costs were a groat deal higher. Twelve counsel took part in what is known as the A’end Case, and when the matter was finally decided the cost totalled £60,000. But this record is easily eclipsed by a famous English action. AVyler v. Lewis reached the House of Lords in 1910, an 3 when judgment typs delivered it was found that the costs amounted to £87,000.