Law advice is no good unless it is expensive? I’m not sure I agree

It never ceases to amaze me how many people seem to judge something or somebody by how much they charge, writes Chris Blackhurst

Temple Bar Memorial marks the ceremonial entrance to the City of London (HarshLight)

His lordship did not hold back. In a judgment at the Court of Appeal this week, Lord Justice Males said there was “no justification at all” for a London law firm charging £1,131.75 an hour. The fee Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, said Males, was “substantially in excess of the guideline rates”.

Cleary Gottlieb was advising the electronics giant LG in appealing a competition case against Samsung. LG won the appeal, and its solicitors submitted a costs bill of £72,818.21 for the one-day hearing. The charge was based on hourly charges of between £801.40 and £1,131.75 for Grade A fee earners and between £443.27 and £704 for Grade C.

Samsung argued this was well above the guidelines set out in the “White Book”, the bible of litigation procedure and costs, for “very heavy commercial and corporate work by centrally based London firms” of £512 for Grade A and £270 for Grade C. Males and Lords Justice Lewison and Snowden agreed, and noted: “In some cases, therefore, the rates claimed are more than double the guideline rates.”