Daylight robbery

29 July 2009

The Ministry of Justice has laid before Parliament a funding order which will raise the rate of pay for counsel in confiscation hearings to dizzy heights. Junior counsel will now receive £275 a day, and additional preparation at £45 an hour.

This is presumably intended to rectify the dearth of counsel on serious and complex confiscation matters. These are draconian proceedings in which a person convicted of a relatively minor charge may be stripped of every penny they possess.

No-one should invoke the mythical plumber. A partner at Hickman & Rose says “my hair salon has a higher charging rate than this”.