Fee structure failure

If the Daily Telegraph's figures are right, solicitors Harbottle and Lewis may be pleased to have parted company with former partner Lawrence Abramson.  In May 2007, he reviewed 2,500 emails at the request of News International, taking hard copies of 300 of them. He then signed a note which said he "did not find anything … which appeared to us to be reasonable evidence that Clive Goodman’s illegal actions were known about and supported by both or either of Andy Coulson, the editor, and Neil Wallis, the deputy editor, and/or that Ian Edmondson, the news editor, and others were carrying out similar procedures".

It was a narrow tranche of emails (only those mentioning Goodman over a specific period of time, in specific email folders). The Telegraph says the fee was "around" £10,000. So that's either £100 for a clean bill of health per printed email. Or £2.50 per email read. Hardly top dollar fee charging, Mr Abramson.