The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-23

LAWYERS BIG FEES.
FORTUNES RECEIVED FOR SERVICES
RENDERED IN LITIGATION.
Large Amounts Paid in Will Cases
Sums Received by Patent Lawyers
Suing a COrporatiOn-Law-
yers Who Are SaIaried.
New York SUM-

big fees, said veteran lawyer, Sare
generally the private concern of the client
who pays them and the lawyer who re-
ceives them. If Dorsey saw fit to pay
Col. IngersoIl 800, 600 for his services in
the star route cases, Dorsey probably got
the worth of his money. have observed
that lawyers do not care to measure tho
value of their services by the amount of
the verdict except when they win. 1t Ii
not an unfair rule that lawyers fees
should be governed by the importance of
the interest involved. Mr. Tilden re-
ceived a fortune for his services In railroad
litigation and negotiation; but H. long as
those who paid the money were satisfied,
/ do not see whose business 1t was but
that of the parties interested. Henry l.
Clinton is reported to have charged Will
lam H. Vanderbilt over 5000, 600 IN the
Vanderbilt will case, and to have actually
received S75, 900. But there were millions
involved in that case. 1t is common
thing for big lawyers to charge 800 per
day for attendance in court.
big fees are common in will cases, but
allowances by the courts of estates are
now limited to $4,000 a side. Those
were halcyon days for the lawyers when
| the surrogate could divide the estate
among the gentlemen of the bar, leaving
the litigants in debt. In the Taylor Will
case, a few years ago, the lawyers got not
only the estate, but actually left the
! widow in debt after selling her clothes. In
! the Parish will case Charles O'Conor re-
ceived q small fortune. In the Hardin
will case John K. Porter got, believe,
! about $26, 900. He represented the claim
! of the alleged widow. Henry Nicol has
! Ticknor Curtis had such a big bill in one
! of the celebrated india rubber cases that
| he charged 81 200 for making it out.
MANY big fees have been received by
patent lawyers. Professor Morse spent a
fortune in the courts defending his first
patents, but he got it all back In the value
of the patents. Every invention of i'm
/ portance has cost its inventor. or owner
dearly for legal service. Signal instances
of this fact have been seen in the vuicanic
rubber, barbed iron fence, niClIle plating,
burglar-alarm, sewing machine, and other
patent cases, in all of which fortunes
were paid to lawyers In such cases the
labor of lawyers is enormous, the respon-
sibility great, and the pay of course ap-
propriately large Good patent lawyers
get rich, but their brows are generally
furrowed with care.
"Mr. Evarts has had some very big fees
from corporations, from will cases, and
long contested suits He could show the
record of great many $lO,O fees.
When a sutton has a hard case he does not
hesitate at paying a few thousand dollars
to good lawyer. A poor lawyer is a
very expensive luxury. When sutton
with good case has been two or three
times TO the court of appeals in conse-
quence to his lawyers blunders, he begins
to think it pays to get good one
"Not long ago it was unlawful and un
professional for lawyer to have per
sonaI interest in the case OF his client
This was obviously unjust to poor lit
giants. If man got injured on railroad
he was absolutely unable to get damages
because of his poverty 1t got to be pro
verbal that there was no use suing cor
poration. The poor sutton was at dis
| advantage Now it is lawful and reput
able for a lawyer to become interested
in the case of his client. anC
to make his fees contingent upon success
By the operation of the law of self-inter
est the lawyer thus works harder than ht
otherwise would. Many poor HtigantE
have in this way recovered verdfcts who
would otherwise have become Migrants
"NIany large corporations have salaried
lawyers to look after their business
, Judge Dillon left the bench of the United
States court to take salary of $50, OOC
, from the Union Pacific Railway company
Dudley Field has had enormous fees ou
of the Erie Railway company and the ele
, waited railways The lawyers saved the
elevated railways about 81, $50 900 in thu
> tax suits with the city, as the courts Gu
) down the bills about that sum.
? THE counsel for large corporations lik
: Trinity church. the Equitable and Mutua
Life, the Standard Oil company, and in
2 situations of like magnitude receive hand
/ some, incomes, and devote themselve
: largely to the business of one client
5 Lawyers like Ben Butler, Rosco
3 Conkling Senator Edmunds or Judge
D Jere Black could fill volumes of record
E of big fees There is. in fact, always
8 demand for lawyers who can earn bi
j fees. There are so many novelties of tn
e law, so many expedients and devices t
suit new circumstances that men of pene
y tration and of skill in devious expedient
E can find plenty of scope.