September 10, 2004

"We hear with surprise of the enormous fees and incomes of leading American lawyers, such as Webster, Choate, David Paul Brown, and others; but the practice of eminent British gentlemen of the long robe is more remunerative than even that of their American brethren. Sir Samuel Homilly realized an income of upward of $75,000 in the last years of his life; Sir Charles Wetherell received $35,000 for opposing the Municipal Corporations Bill at the bar of the House of Lords; the late Lord Truro's retaining fee in an important cause was $15,000; and these instances by no means stand alone."