Judge Neville slams $26,000 in family-law legal fees — calls it “effectively a licence to print money”

In a blistering November 2023 judgment, Judge W.J. Neville of the Federal Circuit and Family Court took aim at the soaring cost of Australian family-law litigation, describing it as “effectively a licence to print money.”

The case — Renner & Renner [2023] FedCFamC2F 1499 — involved a simple dispute about children’s passports that somehow generated $26,287.80 in legal fees.  The Court found that 11 different lawyers and paralegals had billed the mother for the same narrow issue, with multiple lawyers “reading themselves into the matter” while the first lawyer stayed on the file.

Judge Neville said such duplication amounted to “double-charging” and questioned why “an experienced firm would not get it right the first time.”  He called the level of over-servicing “a remarkable, if not an unjustifiable, extravagance.”

Quoting from the judgment:

“Family law should not be regarded, let alone treated, as effectively a licence to print money… Costs are excruciatingly, and in many respects, unjustifiably and alarmingly high.”

“A reasonable argument can be made that there has been a significant exercise of over-servicing… A large team in such circumstances must surely be questioned.”

“One can be admitted for approximately two years and have a charge-out rate of $600 per hour in family law, compared to counsel with two decades’ experience who charge only $400 per hour.” (see paras 43–47)

After reviewing the bills, the Court cut the claim by two-thirds, awarding just $8,385.15.  Judge Neville described the original $26,000 figure as “unreasonable, unreasonably incurred, and in classical terms, unseemly.”

Read the full decision:

Renner & Renner [2023] FedCFamC2F 1499 (14 Nov 2023) — see paragraphs 43 to 47 for the Court’s sharpest remarks on “partner-rate padding,” duplication, and billing excesses.