Former chairmen of ASIC and the ACCC have spoken out against the 13-year freeze on federal government pay rates for barristers, saying it cost them in the courtroom.
Former corporate and competition watchdog chiefs say their ability to win major court cases was “materially weakened” by having to pay barristers a fraction of their commercial rates, and pointed to warnings as early as 2019 that this was a problem in the courtroom.
“The market rate for those levels of expertise are high, and I think I was particularly concerned that our ability to have equal standing before an appeals court or the High Court was hampered by these dated directions,” he said.Mr Shipton’s predecessor, Mr Medcraft, said pay rates were always an issue during his tenure at ASIC from 2011 to 2017. “It was often an issue when we were fighting significant cases against well-funded parties,” he said.
The NSW and Victorian bar associations sounded the alarm about the huge discrepancy, while leading commercial barristers warned it created a disincentive to take on work from regulators.One barrister noted that although he was subject to the “cab rank” rule, which requires members of the Bar to take work on a first-come, first-serve basis, it did not apply to matters where the pay was below their usual commercial rates.
Leading commercial silk James Peters, KC, said the regulators would be better served by having more freedom to engage counsel of their choice unrestrained by budgetary limitations.
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