BPP COMMENT: The whole legal system is setup to enrich solicitors / lawyers. Justice has nothing to do with it.


A total of £100 million, more than half the costs of the Bloody Sunday inquiry, established in 1998, has gone on legal fees.

The judge who has chaired it, Lord Saville of Newdigate, has received £2 million, but that is only the salary he would have received anyway, first as a law lord and more recently as a Supreme Court justice.

Two lawyers have earned more than £4 million each, while the total bills for four counsel for the inquiry have exceeded £12 million.

The highest earners include Sir Christopher Clarke, QC, lead counsel for the inquiry and now a High Court judge, who received at least £4.5 million. Edwin Glasgow, QC, lead counsel for the British Armed Forces, earned more than £4 million for his work over several years. Gerard Elias, QC, also counsel for the Armed Forces, received £1.8 million.

Alan Roxburgh was paid nearly £3 million in 12 years as a junior counsel to the inquiry.

Among other big legal names is Michael Mansfield, who acted for four individuals in three families and whose fees amounted to £740,000.

Sir Allan Green, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, who was forced to resign amid allegations of kerb-crawling but has since developed a thriving practice as a defence barrister, received more than £1.5 million.

Lawyers who have made more than £1 million from the Saville inquiry Earnings figures released in February last year showed:

Sir Christopher Clarke – £4,488,266

Edwin Glasgow QC – £4,065,817

Alan Roxburgh – Junior counsel to the inquiry – £2,978,989

Cathryn McGahey – Junior counsel to the inquiry – £2,268,093

Bilal Rawat – Junior counsel to the inquiry - £2,203,633

Gerard Elias QC – Represented soldiers – £1,795,752

Allan Green QC – Represented soldiers – £1,522,441

Eilish McDermott – Senior counsel for victims’families – £1,405,133

Arthur Harvey – Senior counsel for victims’ families – £1,326,426

David Bradly – Junior counsel for soldiers – £1,291,966

Barry J McDonald – Senior counsel for victims’ families – £1,203,275

Nicholas Griffin – Junior counsel for the Army – £1,195,062

David Lloyd Jones QC – Now a High Court judge – £1,095,966

Seamus Treacy – Now a Northern Ireland High Court judge – £1,008,703

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article2555566.ece