Legal fee scandal: Lawyers ‘feast’ on Perth family estate
Kate Campbell | The West Australian
Sunday, 1 April 2018 2:00AM
A Supreme Court judge has launched a scathing attack on lawyers who “feasted” on a small family estate with their “indefensible” legal fees, describing it as a “scandal” that brings the profession into “disrepute”.
Justice Jeremy Curthoys’ withering takedown was aimed at the lawyers involved in the case of Angela Miller, who was contesting the will of her late de facto partner Andre Taylor, who left his entire estate — worth about $600,000 at the time of the three-day trial last October — to his two adult children, Elizabeth and Philippe.
In a recent judgment, it was revealed the combined legal costs were potentially more than $500,000 — in a case involving six lawyers, one from interstate, but which only should have had two, according to the judge.
The small estate had been “ravaged” by legal fees, he said.
The costs on this matter are not, as counsel for the executor described them, ‘unfortunate’. They are a scandal to the administration of justice and bring the legal profession into disrepute in the eyes of the public.
Justice Curthoys.
“Estates are not there to be feasted upon by lawyers but to go to the beneficiaries and those who might be entitled either under the will, the Administration Act or the Family Provision Act.
“No citizen of this community being informed of the costs incurred relevant to the amount of the estate could be (anything) other than horrified. Family provision matters are generally not complex and costs of this magnitude relative to the value of the estate are inexcusable.”
Ms Miller had a win in her legal fight, with Justice Curthoys awarding her a $220,000 slice of her late partner’s estate after he found she was his partner at the time of his death. But her legal team Culshaw Miller Lawyers’ costs amount to more than $140,000.
Under the breakdown in the judgment, legal fees for the defendants’ lawyers, first CGL before changing to Eastwood Sweeney Law, totalled nearly $285,000, while costs for the executor, Mr Taylor’s ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor, came to nearly $77,000.
Cameron Eastwood, lawyer for Mr Taylor’s children, told The Sunday Times he only ended up charging his clients $109,000 — less than half what he actually spent on the case, waiving fees worth nearly $160,000.
Ms Miller’s lawyers, Culshaw Miller, did not respond to The Sunday Times’ query. Final orders on costs have yet to be made. A Law Society of WA spokesman did not want to comment on this particular case but said the society was otherwise not aware of any cases where exorbitant or unjustified fees were charged in the profession.
“To the contrary, the legal profession is closely regulated, with lawyers required to uphold the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct,” he said.
“Specific provisions are in place to ensure the costs expended in legal proceedings are proportional to the value, importance and complexity of the matters in issue.”
The Legal Profession Complaints Committee’s 2017 annual report states it received 1421 inquiries in 2016-17, with the highest proportion of those (28.2 per cent) involving costs issues.
Australia commenced a reform of its ascendancy laws way back in 1993. This reform began and was run by guess who The Queensland Law Reform Commission. Finally in 2009 they released many volumes on the reform agenda. This Commission was run by guess who the lawyers. In 2013 The Victorian Law Reform Commission released a report on our Succession laws called succession law reform. None of the recommendations regarding the behaviour of lawyers who were appointed as executors were implemented bar one which was too obvious to ignore. That is that lawyers who are executors now are regarded as lawyers and come under the umbrella of the Legal Professional Act and can be disciplined by The Legal Services Commissioner, even though we all know they are useless a bulls tit.. The Commission requested the Law Institute of Victoria to write Guidelines for the lawyer executors but this was never done! This action would have been the beginning of introducing some accountability into the way the lawyers rob the graves of the dead but has been ignored by the Judicial System. And hence the feast by these soulless devils continues. In Australia there is absolutely zero respect for family and community in our legal fabric which dates back to 1788. No Treaty, no respect for family and community within our laws. For more information explore




