Whitehall spending on City law firm advice increases to more than £700,000 a week
The UK government spent more than £700,000 a week on advice from City law firms last year, according to new figures which show Whitehall’s legal fee budget increased by a fifth compared to the previous year.
The government spent more than £36.5m on advice from major law firms in 2021-22, in paying out weekly sums of almost £704,000, data obtained via a freedom of information (FOI) from researchers at The Lawyer shows.
The more than £700,000 spent on advice from top-ranking law firms including Clifford Chance, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May, comes as a 22 per cent increase on the weekly legal fee outgoings of £575,600 a week during the year before.
The higher figure signals an increased reliance inside the government on advice from external law firms last year, as the government was forced to grapple with an array of complex legal issues during Covid-19.
The figures also come as the City’s major law firms have also faced scrutiny for charging “excessive” fees for legal services of more than £1000 an hour. In April, Court of Appeals judge Lord Justice Males hit out at lawyers from Cleary Gottlieb for charging its client, LG, rates of £1,131.75 an hour.
The Attorney General’s office has been approached for comment.