BARRISTER Geoffrey Cox made national news last week when it was revealed he received more than £1-million in legal aid fees following the collapse of a controversial fraud trial. Mr Cox, who is the prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for West Devon and Torridge, was one of 12 barristers who billed a total of £4.8-million for work on the Jubilee Line corruption trial, thought to be the most expensive in legal history. Mr Cox, who heads his own London chambers, submitted a bill of £1,035,342. The case collapsed before he was called to put his client?s evidence before the jury. But Mr Cox said the size of his fee reflected the length of time and complexity of the work involved. He said: ?The fee represents work over a period of almost five years ?I was first instructed in May 2000. ?Uniquely, my case involved an application to the court in February 2001 that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a trial ? that involved work that no other counsel was involved in. ?This was the largest case of its kind for many years. It involved 90 million documents and a set of highly complex allegations. It was probably the most sophisticated work of its type in this field.? Mr Cox said it was ?misleading? to suggest he had received £1-million. The payment is gross and includes VAT and practice overheads which would reduce it by almost half. Legal aid fees are scrutinised and agreed by the Legal Services Commission, which released the figures. There is no suggestion that any fees were improper. The commission stressed that the profit made by individual law firms will be much lower than if they were doing private work. The £60-million Jubilee Line case was finally abandoned after a problem with the jury. Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith has announced an inquiry into the collapse of the case. Mr Cox has been involved in many high-profile cases. For the past two years he has fought against the government?s refusal to allow widowers to have their wives? national insurance contributions taken into account in providing them with a pension. The case started in West Devon.
