Any barrister involved in referral fees 'bribe' should be 'thrown to the wolves'

To prevent attempts to disguise referral fee payments as 'administration fees', there should be a complete ban on all fees paid by advocates to instructing solicitors, the chairman of the Bar has argued.

Speaking to delegates at the annual Bar and Young Bar Conferences, Alistair MacDonald QC compared those involved in referral fee payments to drug cheats in sport, warning they were 'always one step ahead of those performing tests' and that a referral fee was 'a squalid back-hander' that was payable from income derived from the taxpayer.

MacDonald's comments come after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced it intended to crack down on referral fees in its consultation on preserving and enhancing the quality of criminal advocacy.

The Lord Chancellor, Michael Gove, said he wished to tackle the issue of referral fees earlier this year when he told a gathering of judges that such 'inappropriate payments' would not be 'tolerated'.

In his keynote address to the barrister profession, MacDonald said: 'Those who indulge in these nefarious activities are ever ready to seek new ways to hide the truth of what they are really about under the cloak of a name such as an administration fee.

'The fact that no solicitor in my experience at the Bar has ever, until recently, demanded a fee for the administration of the selection process demonstrates that this is just a cloak for a referral fee.'

The chair of the Bar continued: 'Like the drug cheats in sport, who are always one step ahead of those performing the tests, there are no depths to the ingenious and ingenuous means by which the cheats would seek to dress up their referral fees, the only effective measure would be a complete ban on any payment by the selected advocate to the instructing solicitor. And that is the measure we will be urging in our response to the consultation.'

MacDonald's comments were backed up later in the day by the chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Mark Fenhalls QC, who said referral fees were 'corrupt' and must go.

Commenting on the use of administration fees as being a 'grey land', the 23 Essex Street silk said: 'The reality is that such fees are a bribe. Any barrister involved in them should be thrown to the wolves.'

John van der Luit-Drummond is deputy editor for Solicitors Journal
john.vanderluit@solicitorsjournal.co.uk | @JvdLD