Notifications
Clear all

The rates of pay

83 Posts
14 Users
0 Likes
21.7 K Views
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
Topic starter
 

Some observations to bear in mind.

The rates of pay - http//trewmte.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-rates-of-pay.html

 
Posted : 02/10/2012 11:21 am
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

Are you saying that you are not allowed to charge more than that rate?
Are all the expert are exactly identical in their competence?

 
Posted : 03/10/2012 6:41 am
(@larrydaniel)
Posts: 229
Reputable Member
 

In the US

1. The rate of pay you can charge is based on the entity that is hiring you if it is an appointed case and it varies by state, county and federal jurisdiction.

2. As far as what you can charge for retained cases, that is up to you to set or negotiate with your clients.

 
Posted : 03/10/2012 6:55 am
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
Topic starter
 

There have been guidelines that identify a rate of pay for work going back to The Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings (Costs) Regulations 1988, 1989, 2000 and subsequent amendments thereafter. The guidance back then quoted an hourly rate £80.00. The UKSI 2011 identifies an uplift of £10.00 to £90.00.

The guidance rates you see being quoted are those that, unless an instructing solicitor can show why more should be paid per hour, are the hourly fees (the rate of pay) a person may receive. A Court can order (although this might be a last resort) that the amount being hourly charged by the expert should exceed that of the rate quoted in the guidance.

A fundmental and important fact to remember is that the payments are drawn from taxes that have been allocated as a cash sum for use in Legally Aided cases and therefore requires care.

Whilst I do not fully agree that the fees are fair, they highlight a beneficial insight that can be drawn from them. The guidance fees show that the UK national minimum wage was excessively under valued as there is no hourly fees quoted that are close to the national minimum wage. Why is that important? Because an implicit fact that can be drawn from the fees is the reward to recognise the importance of striving for knowledge and skillsets and to work to high standards. It is not unreasonable to suggest this can help people understand their value and to see if it is being properly recognised or the employment situation is merely draining personal resources in a pay-as-you-throw mentality.

Finally, the guidance fees in the UKSI have no impact where the client is paying privately.

 
Posted : 03/10/2012 10:49 am
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

Can you elaborate for us, not in the UK, what those rates represent in your opinion? Is it too high, too low, appropriate?

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 12:12 am
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
Topic starter
 

To discuss your question needs identification and consideration, at minimum, of three different economic operating bands

NMW
Measured against those on the national minimum wage (NMW) the guidance fees may represent an ideal many might desire to earn on a hourly basis.

Starting Out/New to Profession
For those seeking employment or not experienced enough with valuing their services the guidelines highlights a gauge or measurement that a person may wish to use to see if they are below or above the threshold set out in the guidance. For instance, where did this notion come from that cell site/mobile telephone examiners should fit into a catagory of £22K-£30K as seen in the adverts here at FF and elsewhere? From the amount of salary point of view a person could look at the guidance hourly fees compared to say £30,000 per annum divided by number of working weeks and number of hours per day and may think I am only being paid £10/£12 p/h and yet the thieving basket (joke) is billing my services at £90 p/h.

Seasoned Professional
Professionally, though, the guidance fees do not represent appropriate value or recompense for the years of striving, knowledge and experience and are too low against the burdens expected to be carried by a professional.

The quality measurement of cost should not be based on an average hourly rate but the rate of pay advanced on a case by case basis commensurate with the complexity of the work involved.

However, at the higher end £300/£400 per hour and at the lower end £130.00/£190 per hour are not uncommon in today's fiscal climate.

Perhaps you could, from a US point of view, disclose what you say is typical US hourly rates?

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 2:19 am
(@larrydaniel)
Posts: 229
Reputable Member
 

I have seen rates from 40/hr to 500/hr here in the US.

The average seems to be 200-250 per hour.

Our firm's rate is 250.00 an hour and it is published on our web site in our FAQ section.

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 9:44 am
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
Topic starter
 

As an update regarding experts/witnesses, competency and evidence the UK Criminal Procedure Rules and the Civil Procedures Rules have been updated and came into force on the 1st October 2012.

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 9:56 am
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
Topic starter
 

As an update regarding experts/witnesses, competency and evidence the UK Criminal Procedure Rules and the Civil Procedures Rules have been updated and came into force on the 1st October 2012.

Apologies; forgot to add links

http//www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal
http//www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/rulesmenu

http//www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil

Also have a look at this Bar Council discussion

http//www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/code-guidance/guidance-on-witness-preparation/

What is the relevance of the above links to the main topic of discussion about rates of pay? The identification of responsibilities and skillsets needed for dealing with forensics and evidence in addition to the person actually have the level of knowledge, skills and experience relevant to the actual work involved for evidence gathering and teh same for the science involved in the field of endeavour in which the person works (technology, medicine, accounting etc etc).

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 10:19 am
jhup
 jhup
(@jhup)
Posts: 1442
Noble Member
 

As Larry D wrote the rates I have seen range from about $100 to about $500 for private-hire work.

I do not have court ordered work rates, but I presume it is very much driven by the region.

I have seen primarily three ways of charging - by data size, by the hour, and some hybrid of the two.

When by size, all charge by size on disk - this is an important distinction, specially if dealing with e-mail in .MSG or .eml format on a large-cluster drive.

When by hour, it is almost always full hour, instead of the 6- or 15-minute lawyer time.

 
Posted : 04/10/2012 10:26 pm
Page 1 / 9
Share: