The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-02-25
FAoTs ABOUT earc FEES.
=. r5as-5f, ff.l.- - Z 4 " Is q s
Fortunes Paid to I.awyers.-A Few Instance
of Harti-earned Retaiuers.


Big fees,n said veteran lawyer, " are
generally the private concern of the client
who pays them and the lawyer who receives
them. II Dorsey saw fit to pay Col. Inger-
soil 300, 900 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 the value of their
services by the amount of the verdict, ex.
eept when they win. 1t is not an unfair
rule that lawyers fees should be governed
by the Importance of the interests involved.
Mr.. Tilden received fortune for his SER
vices in railroad litigation and negotiation
but as long ms 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 ehare
ed William H. Vanderbilt over 5000, 900 in
the Vanderbilt will case, and to hive actu.
ally received $4,000. But there We're mil.
lions involved in that case 1t is a common
thing for big lawyers to charge 800 pei
day for attendance in court. Practitioners
of the rank of Joseph H. Choate, +. N.
Bangs, John E. Burrill. William Fullerton
j. X. Porter, d. d. Field, Thomas G.. Shear
man, and many others find no difficulty liz
collecting such fees for actual attendance in
court. Her
Big fees are common in will cases, but
allowances by the courts out of estates are
now limited to $4,000 side. Those were
haleyon days for lawyers, when the Surro.
gate could divide the estate among the gen.
tlemen of the bar, leaving the litigants in
debt. In the Taylor will case few years
ago the lawyers got not only all the estate.
but actually left the widow in debt after
selling her clothes
" In the Parish will case Charles O'Conor
received n small fortune. In the Hardin
will case John X. Porter, believe, about
S2S 900. He represented the claim of the
alleged widow. Henry Nicol has charged
as high as $500 day. George Ticknor
Curtis had such q big bill in one of the
celebrated india rubber cases that he charg.
ed 81 900 for making it out.
Many big fees have been received b,
patent lawyers. Prof. Morse spent a for
1900 - ,NN S''atp HIS HTSb pa.
tents, but he got it all back in the value of
the patents. Every invention of Importance
has cost its inventor or owner dearly for
legal services Signal instances of this fact
have been seen in the vulcanite rubber.
barbed iron fence, nickel plating, burglar
alarm, sewing machine, and other patent
cases, in oil of which fortunes were paid to
lawyers. In such cases the labor of LAWYERS
Is enormous, the responsibility great, and
the pay of course appropriately large. Good
patent lawyers get rich, but their brows are
generally furrowed with care
Mr. Evarts has had some very big fee,
from corporations, from will cases, and Ions
contested suits. He could show the record
of great many $4,000 fees When a sui.
tor has hard case he does not hesitate at
paying few thousand dollars to good
lawyer. poor lawyer is a very expensive
luxury. When suitor with good case has
been two or three times to the Court of Ap-
peals in consequence of his lawyers blnn-
ders, he begins to think il pays to get a
good one.