News Corporation is certainly counting the cost of Wapping's phone hacking scandal. Top lawyers don't come cheap.
According to The Lawyer magazine, the barrister hired by the media company for his legal advice, Lord Grabiner QC, commands fees of £3,000 an hour.
He has been drafted in as an independent chair of the management and standards committee (MSC), the internal inquiry team set up by News Corp.
He will determine the group's response to the scandal at the now-defunct News of the World that has engulfed the company's UK division, News International.
The Lawyer quotes a source as saying: "It shows just how seriously [News International] is taking this. Grabiner pulls no punches. He'll be very thorough. It's worth spending the money on someone like that."
Widely perceived to be one of the country's top silks, Tony Grabiner is among a shrinking number of elite barristers who can command such weighty fees.
The phone hacking saga has spawned a new market for the legal profession.
Linklaters is the latest to add its name to the growing roster of firms advising News Corp. One of its partners, John Turnbull, is to advise the MSC.
Source: The Lawyer
