English Lawyers

a Damster s lees are smali, ana tney are always paid in advance, and the sum is recorcifcd under the title of the brief. A friend who lias a large practica showed me his feebook yesterday. The largest item was 38 guineas which is less than $200. The average was about $50. Fees are regulated by the benchers of the inn according to the service performed, and no contingent fees are allowed. A barrister may accept a case for notbing or return the fee in cases oí charity, but he cannot without violating his oath, directly or indirectly, accept any greater coinpensation f er a legal service than is allowed in thé regular schedule fixed by the benchers of his inu. If he does so, he is debarred from practice. It is a comrnon custom in America for a lawyer to undertake a snit for the recovery of damages or a claim of any kind with a contract that he shall receive a certaiu percentage of the amount of money recovered. In England such an act would be considered disreputable, and any barrister found guilty would be expelled from his iun. The fees are regulated by the p.mount of time and labor required, and uot by the amount of money invoived. A barrister may receive a fee of $250 in a case ■ volving only 500, and he may receive a fee of $25 in a case involviug $1,000,000. All legal business originales with solicitors. They bring to the barrister's office a cate all prepared after certaiu forms and written in manuscript. The I British court3 do not perniit typewriting. The solicitor requests the barrister to undertake the case, and the fee is marked plainly upon the brief. If the barrister does not care to undertake the labor for the amount of money allowed or for any other reason, he advises the solicitor to go elsewhere. If be accepts the responsibility, the solicitor leaves the amount of the fee in coin with the brief, so that the barrister has his pay in advance. This is the almost invariable custom. The only exceptions are iu cases of close friendship between the solicitors and barristers and where there is a large amouut of litigation ia which both are invoived. Then it is enstomary for the barrister to tuake np his bill at the end of the month or the end of the quarter, but the fee in each case must nevertheless be written upon the brief and recorded in the books of the court. It is customary, also, for the solicitor to leave a fee for the barrister's clerk at the same time, which must be a certain percentage of that paid to the barrister. When you dine at a hotel or a restaurant in England, it is customary to tip the waiter an amouut equal to 6 per cent of your bill tor the same reason. The waiter receives no compensation from his employer, nor does the barrister's clerk. His pay comes entirely from the clients, and if his principal has no clients he gets no pay. On the other hand, if his principal has a very large and profitable practice his fees are enorinous. They say that the clerk of Sii Charles Russell lives in a handsome villa down in the suburbs, is driven to and from his office in a brougham and hires a box at the opera for the