Carter-Ruck legal fees going cheap at £400 an hour

Much mirth at yesterday's culture, media and sport select committee hearing on press standards, privacy and libel when Mark Thomson, of formidable litigation specialists Carter-Ruck, took issue with the claim that he and fellow lawyers were charging up to £650 an hour for their services. Thomson insisted that the standard rate at his firm was £400 an hour. This prompted the Tory Ribble Valley MP, Nigel Evans, to wonder aloud if Carter-Ruck was "having a sale", which caused gales of laughter all round. Except, of course, from the row of lawyers who defend libel cases for media companies seated directly behind Thomson, that is.