Barristers fees are 'breathtaking'

Barristers' earnings have soared to a record £1.6bn, with the top QCs averaging £278,000.

The new figures published yesterday paint a rosy picture of life at the Bar, confounding government attempts to rein in barristers' fees.

The details of the latest earnings follow a report last week which showed that élite barristers were on £2m a year.

Yesterday, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said at the Barristers' Conference in London: "For a minority of members of the Bar, even allowing for inflation, earnings are breathtakingly high."

The report, the "2001 Survey of Barristers' Chambers", showed that QCs' earnings had risen from £268,700 last year to £278,000 for this year.

Estimated overall turnover of the independent Bar has risen from £1.3-£1.5bn last year to £1.4-£1.6bn this year, with most barristers' chambers predicting an increase in the level of receipts for the next 12 months.

Proposed criminal law reforms published by the Government last week would lead to even more work for lawyers, Roy Amlot QC told the conference. He said that Lord Justice Auld's recommendation that the prosecution and the defence should be able to appeal against a perverse verdict would lead to continuous litigation.

Lord Woolf expressed sympathy for barristers doing publicly funded work, who face a cut in legal aid fees. He said: "I can understand they must feel battered. Their difficulties need to be acknowledged and dealt with.''

While barristers are earning record fees,they are also dedicating some of their time to free representation. According to the survey by BDO Stoy Hayward, 66 per cent of Chambers said they had done free work in the past year.