Shocked Judge Says A&O Overbilled; Firm Spent $10.4M for 5-Day Trial
Updated: A shocked judge on the United Kingdom’s High Court has criticized one of the country’s most prominent law firms for spending way too much time representing Research In Motion UK in an infringement case concerning BlackBerry patents.
Justice Christopher Floyd pointed out that Allen & Overy racked up nearly 5.2 million pounds (that’s almost $10.4 million in U.S. dollars) in costs over 15 months to prepare for a five-day trial, according to the Lawyer. Two senior associates on the case each billed nearly 2,300 hours.
“For these sums of money, one would be entitled to expect each of them to be able to recite all the documents in the case by heart,” Floyd held.
By contrast, counsel for the other party, Visto, billed only about 20 percent as much: 1 million pounds (not quite $2 million in U.S. dollars), the Lawyer reported. Legal Week said Visto’s bill came in at 1.6 million pounds, or nearly $3.2 million in U.S. dollars.
The High Court has now assigned a cost judge to go through A&O’s billings, item by item.
Says an unnamed A&O spokesman: “The reality is that the legal costs were a tiny fraction of the value of RIM’s business, which was put at risk through this litigation. A&O’s efforts also benefited RIM and the industry by removing Visto’s ability to pursue disproportionate financial gain from the patent.”
The High Court ruling comes in the wake of “widespread concern over the cost of litigation in the U.K., following the high-profile collapse of such lengthy cases as BCCI and Equitable Life, when legal bills totaled tens of millions of pounds,” notes Legal Week.
Updated at 12:50 p.m.to include Legal Week coverage.
