Chote on AG's revelation of lawyer fees: Identify cases for better transparency

President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) Sophia Chote said while attorneys in the past have challenged attempts to make their payments public, it would help assist the country with transparency if cases taken by attorneys were identified.

Speaking as a senior counsel, Chote could not say whether the numbers revealed by the Attorney General on Friday identifying the expenditure incurred by the office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA), in the past six years, and its predecessors over the preceding five years were unusual because the nature of the individual cases were not explained.

“We don’t know if these cases were opinions, or if they are ceases which went before a magistrate. We don’t know if these are fees for a senior council or if it includes junior lawyers.”

She added that LATT's position on the listing of expenditure for cases still has to be discussed with its membership.

Chote noted that lawyers charge clients according to a scaled fee. Charges are set according to the hour. For example if a lawyer has "silk" they can bill a client up to TT$5,000 an hour.

“Some cases that are billed are very complicated and could last for years,” Chote said. “You can’t compare what we do to what a neurosurgeon or a teacher does. This is a unique profession, dealing with high level problems for which attorneys spend many years honing their craft to solve.”

Chote also noted that the expenditure included bills from forensic accountants.

In a statement made during the Standing Finance Committee meeting held on Friday last in Parliament, Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi revealed the AGLA incurred a total of $2.129 billion in expenditure, while the previous administration racked up a bill of $4.585 billion.

“The office of the AG asks that you note that the office of the AG has not yet provided the particulars of every individual matter undertaken or the individual invoices provided by each external attorney and forensic accountant but has provided the names and full sums provided by each professional in particular form,” Al Rawi said on Friday.

Al Rawi said from 2010 to 2015 the office of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice incurred $636,224, 219.76 in fees from external professional fees, while the current AGLA incurred a total of $410,000,257.16

Al Rawi said the AGLA’s bill included payments of $148,767,266.04 for the office of the DPP and another 121,075,725.77 was spent in the liquidation of the sum of 141,378,925.54 left by the previous administration.

“Furthermore it (the listing) also included the sum paid to foreign attorneys and to other entities involved in providing forensic services to the government. With the largest single item of expenditure attributed to one entity only standing in the sum of $134,295,545.23 paid to the investigating forensic accounting firm, of Deloitte and Touche for one matter only in the six-year period 2015-2021 for forensic work related to investigative matters managed by the office of the DPP.

While Al Rawi said he had not included each individual matter in his listing, he confirmed that from 2015 - 2021, approximately 125 attorneys were engaged in 1,125 matters.

The AGLA provides legal services to the entire government. Duties of the AGLA include drafting legislation, commencing and defending actions against the republic, providing legal and other services including forensic accounting services, providing advice and drafting and vetting contracts on behalf of the state.

AGLA is not only the defender for all suits brought against the state, but all judicial review proceedings.

The AGLA also pays fees on behalf of the office of the DPP, the Board of Inland Revenue and Statutory Authorities including the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) and the Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd. (EMBD).

Al Rawi added that while the office uses its internal attorneys many cases are complex and are of a specialised nature, thus the need for external attorneys.

“This has been a feature of every administration since independence,” Al Rawi said.