Read the full judgment text of FCMC 7500/2010 on BabelCite. This Family Court judgment was delivered on 29 October 2015 before Deputy District Judge L C Cheng.
Costs – Taxation of bill of costs – Review of taxation decision – Hourly rate assessment – Overseas experience of solicitor – Law Society Guideline 1997 – District Court – Matrimonial Causes – Petitioner applied for review of Master's decision disallowing $2,300 per hour charging rate for fee earner Ms Allison in favour of $1,650 per hour – Petitioner submitted overseas experience should be considered and Guideline not binding – Court held overseas experience relevant but cannot simply add overseas years to Hong Kong years – Master should have considered overseas experience but was generous in not accounting for gap in practice after admission – Guideline not binding but useful starting point for consistency – No special circumstances justified adjustment – Appropriate rate $1,650 per hour for 2 to 4 years experience category – Application dismissed – Petitioner ordered to pay costs of application to Legal Aid Department – Costs to be assessed summarily.
Legal issues: Relevance of overseas experience for hourly rate · Binding nature of Law Society Guideline · Appropriate hourly rate for Ms Allison
Outcome: Application dismissed. The learned master's decision was not wrong.
Cited by 3 cases