S. V. Gittins, Esq.,
The Chairman,
APPENDIX “D”
25th September, 1967.
Hong Kong Bar Association,
218 Marina House,
HONG KONG,
My dear Chairman,
re: FEES IN ASSIGNED CRIMINAL CASES
I refer to our recent meeting when you were good enough to call upon me in my Chambers to discuss the ques- tion mentioned above with particular reference to your two letters of August 17th and the enclosure to my letter of the 11th August.
We looked at a number of factors affecting this question of fees and I indicated that I would, after reflecting on what you had said to me, write to you indicating what I thought should now be done.
It cannot, I think, be overlooked that the fees originally introduced to deal with capital cases only have now been extended over a considerably wider field and the distinction between the fee paid on the first and second assignments is probably less significant than it used to be, because the exten- sion of legal aid has tended to make the second and subse- quent assignments more frequent. The extension of the fee to a greater of cases than in the past may well tend to create more anomalies than in the past by not maintaining an appro- priate balance between the relative weight and difficulty of the case and the fee paid for it. Not only do current arrange- ments take no account of the relative difficulties of some cases
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