Petitioners to pay hefty price

By ELIAS NANAU
LAWYERS are asking for a K50,000 deposit and are charging about K1,000 an hour for their services from clients involved in elections petitions, a lawyer said.
As of last Friday, 104 cases have been registered with the Court of Disputed Returns.
Under the National Court elections petition rules, lawyers should be paid an allowance of up to K450 an hour when proceedings were instituted, during interlocutory proceedings and when preparing other documents for filing, serving or delivering.
The rules also state that lawyers should be paid K650 per hour when they attend a directions hearing, but the charge is reduced to K350 per hour when they attend to any other application.
When lawyers appear and argue a petition on the first day, they should be paid K1,500 an hour but on subsequent days, K1,000 an hour.
If lawyers take on a deferred judgment, they can ask for K350 an hour.
One lawyer who did not want to be identified said in Port Moresby yesterday that these amounts were set in 2007 by the judges as a guide, but fees were much higher.
“They (petitions) are special proceedings – they have their own rules,” he said
He said lawyers were now charging K1,000 an hour and a lawyer is likely to make K10,000 if he spent 10 hours a day in court.
“(But) that depends on the seniority of the lawyer.”
He said witnesses who appear before the court would be paid around K100 a day.
“If a doctoral degree holder or a public servant appears to testify, his charge could be higher than a betel nut vendor,” the lawyer said.
He said a petitioner or a respondent should pay a surety fee of K50,000 into a law firm’s account before a lawyer took on the case.
“As for me I am taking carriage of three matters so K150,000 has already been banked in my account,” the lawyer said.
“Some lawyers are already buying expensive cars.”