The president of the NSW Law Society has dismissed claims that the Australian legal industry is overcharging clients through the use of support staff for billable legal work.

The controversy began when Brian Bartley, chairman of the Queensland Law Society's ethics committee, called for lawyers to take action against the practice of charging clients premium lawyer rates for work carried out by support staff. Bartley told The Australian some law firms, particularly those involved in personal injury litigation, make profits from the work carried out by legal support staff, by charging up to A$300 an hour for work completed by them.

“This is not something that we have seen in New South Wales,” said Mary Macken, president of the Law Society of NSW. “It seems to be an isolated costs claim and only in Queensland where different costs regulations are in force.” CEO of the Queensland Law Society, Noela L'Estrange also said that the practice was not a major issue for the industry. “Unethical and inappropriate time costing is infrequent,” she said.

Bartley claimed it was a matter of great concern that support staff were viewed as lucrative "profit centres" whose actual value to law firms was many times greater than their annual salaries, which normally equated to around A$20 an hour. He added that some law firms charge a "blended rate", which adds a layer of fees, to make it less obvious that secretaries are being charged as lawyers. Bartley also proposed a wage increase for secretaries and support staff undertaking billable legal work. 

Both Macken and L'Estrange said clients have the power to deal with lawyers and their bills already. “The regulation of solicitors’ costs in NSW gives clients rights above and beyond that of any other consumer,” said Macken. “Aside from the additional remedies entitling clients to have their practitioner’s costs assessed - even, sometimes, up to 12 months after the bill has been paid - a legal practitioner can be found to have committed professional misconduct in circumstances of it being established that there has been deliberate gross overcharging,” she added. 

Glenn Ferguson, president of the Law Council of Australia said the few practitioners that do engage in unethical charging practices cause significant damage not only to the profession but also to the clients they represent.