Courts

Leading lawyer who represented Jozef Puska was top-paid criminal legal aid barrister in 2023

Senior counsel Michael Bowman received €772,911 in legal aid payments last year

Senior counsel Michael Bowman’s 2023 criminal legal aid fee income equates to an average weekly fee income of about €14,863. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Gordon Deegan
Fri Feb 2 2024 - 18:44

The leading lawyer who led the defence team for Jozef Puska (33) in the Ashling Murphy murder trial received €772,911 in criminal legal aid payments in 2023.

Senior counsel Michael Bowman was the country’s top-paid criminal legal aid barrister last year and has been the most in-demand defence barrister in the criminal courts for a number of years. The figure includes 23 per cent VAT.

Mr Bowman’s 2023 criminal legal aid fee income equates to an average weekly fee income of about €14,863.

In the courts last year, Mr Bowman also represented Yousef Palani (23) for the murder for two men, Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee, in Sligo in April 2022 and Co Donegal man Richard Burke (33), who beat to death his on-off partner Jasmine McMonagle (28) in January 2019.

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The solicitor’s practice that received the highest criminal legal aid payout last year was Dublin-based Wayne Kenny, which received €882,074, while the best-paid criminal legal aid junior counsel last year was Keith Spencer, who received €765,954.

The figures released by the Department of Justice show that lawyers received record criminal legal aid payments in 2023, partly due to an increased workload across the courts.

In total, aggregate pay to solicitors and barristers last year totalled €84.91 million – an increase of €12.8 million or 17.7 per cent on the €72.09 million total for 2022.

The detailed figures show that criminal legal aid payments to solicitors totalled €45.66 million – a 10 per cent increase on the 2022 payout of €41.47 million.

Pay to barristers last year increased by 28 per cent from €30.62 million to €39.25 million, made up of €15.59 million paid to senior counsel and €23.66 million paid to junior counsel.

The figures do not reflect the 10 per cent increase in fees which came into effect on January 1st.

The increase followed a pay campaign by barristers culminating in the Criminal Bar withdrawing services on October 3rd in protest at the failure by the Government to restore a 10 per cent cut in rates imposed in 2011.

The figures provided show that while the top earners saw an increase in their criminal legal aid scheme payment, a large cohort of barristers – just over 300 on the criminal legal aid panel- received less than €30,000 last year, although the bulk of these would have other sources of income from the courts.

The figures also show that the late Ian Bailey’s long-time lawyer, Frank Buttimer, received €401,153 in criminal legal aid payments.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice cautioned that the 2022 payment do not include amounts paid for work on custody issues, and Garda station and prison visits, whereas the 2023 figures do.

She said: “While the amount paid under these ad hoc schemes is a small fraction of the larger scheme, it should be noted that the 2022 and 2023 figures are not directly comparable for that reason,” she said.

The spokeswoman said: “One of the likely factors in the increase in expenditure on Criminal Legal Aid is the increasing complexity of cases being heard in our courts, as well as the increasing volumes of cases coming into the Circuit Criminal Court, the Central Criminal Court and the Court of Appeal.”

She said: “Under reforms recommended by the Judicial Planning Working Group and approved by Government, the number of judges in the Irish legal system will increase by 25 per cent.”

Some 24 additional judges were appointed in 2023, including eight extra judges for the District Court, eight for the Circuit Court, six for the High Court and two for the Court of Appeal.

A spokesman for the Bar of Ireland stated the 2023 figures are a factor “of not only the complexity of matters coming before the courts, but also a growing increase in volume of activity coming before the courts”.

Top 10 Solicitors

  1. Wayne Kenny €882,074
  2. Aonghus McCarthy €704,010
  3. Kenneth Cunningham €669,347
  4. Michael Hennessy €660,065
  5. John M Quinn €657,947
  6. Yvonne Bambury €600,404
  7. Phelim O’Neill €433,092 *
  8. Edmund J Burke €430,365
  9. Fiona Darcy €413,306
  10. Christopher Hogan €406,955

Top 10 Barristers

  1. Michael Bowman SC €772,911
  2. Keith Spencer BL €765,954
  3. Dominic Stuart McGinn SC €486,183
  4. Seamus Clarke SC €481,228
  5. Colman Cody SC €445,020
  6. Padraig Dwyer SC €439,284
  7. Colm Smyth SC €390,949
  8. Mark Nicolas SC €360,737
  9. Roderick F O’Hanlon SC €348,705
  10. Bernard Condon SC €343,186

* This article was amended on Saturday, February 3rd.

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