| 52. |
As indicated above, it
is difficult to assess how accurate or reliable the perceptions commonly reported in the
media are. Hard evidence of the cost of litigation is difficult to come by. The difficulty
is not solved simply by asking lawyers how much they charge since the responses may not be
meaningful unless accompanied by details of cases which are subject to client
confidentiality or legal professional privilege. Thus, it is not a good indication to be
told that a partner in a solicitor's firm charges $x per hour or that an associate charges
$y, since the impact of such charges cannot be assessed without knowing how many
chargeable hours are claimed, and at what professional level, for a particular case of a
known weight and complexity - matters likely to be confidential. |
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| 53. |
Quite apart from such
objections of principle, lawyers may be reluctant to disclose such information on personal
or other grounds, such as fear of losing out to an under-cutting competitor or,
conversely, being seen to command excessively low fees. |
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| 54. |
While the fact that
litigation in Hong Kong is perceived to involve excessive cost is unquestionable, that
perception tends very much to be based on anecdote. But anecdotes tend to relate to
extreme cases with a "shock" value. They therefore cannot be taken alone as a
reliable measure of overall costs. Nevertheless, the persistence of published disquiet
over high fees, even anecdotally, can perhaps be treated as a broad indication that fees
are in many cases considered unacceptably high by users of legal services. |
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| 55. |
One of the
"hardest" indications of fees recently published is in the answer given by the
Secretary for Justice, Ms Elsie Leung, in the Legislative Council on 9 June 1999. It was
given in response to a question tabled by the Hon Yeung Yiu-chung, the relevant part of
which was in the following terms :- |
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"I am advised that
the Law Society does not have any record as to 'the highest, lowest and average amounts of
fees charged' by solicitors. |
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...... A recent survey
of the fees of Senior Counsel conducted by the Bar Association indicates that the majority
of those who responded (72.7%) charge a daily fee of $40,000 to $60,000, and the rest
charged a daily fee of $65,000 or above. The majority (54.5%) charge an hourly rate of
between $4,000 to $6,000; 11.4% charge an hourly rate of $8,000 or above; and the rest
between $6,000 and $8,000. |
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According to data
gathered by the Civil Division of my Department between 1 October 1997 to 31 March 1999,
Senior Counsel engaged by that division charged an average daily refresher rate of $53,368
and an average hourly rate of $6,088. Queen's Counsel from England hired by the Civil
Division of my Department charged an average daily refresher rate of approximately $35,000
(£2,748.90) and an hourly rate of approximately HK$4,900 (£385.70). The daily refresher
rate charged by English Queen's Counsel hired by my department was on average 34% less
than that charged by their Hong Kong counterparts, and the hourly rate 19.5% less.
However, these figures do not take into account passages and hotel accommodation which
must be provided to overseas counsel in addition to their fees. |
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Apart from these fees
for English counsel, I have been unable in the time available to obtain any data in
respect of the legal fees charged in South Africa and the United Kingdom." |
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