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Long before the Bloody Sunday inquiry began hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, even the most casual observer of the UK legal scene would have known that Eversheds was lead solicitor to the inquiry.

The appointment was prominently marketed in the firm’s glossy annual report two years ago alongside flagship corporate work and conversation with any of Eversheds’ litigators over the past three years would soon turn to the inquiry.

Who could blame the firm?

While an investigation into the most notorious episode in Northern Ireland’s recent past is not an obvious job for a commercial firm, a lead role on the highest-profile and most, for want of a better word, ambitious public inquiry in British history is certainly interesting work.

Yet by last week, with the inquiry facing a political storm, Eversheds, along with every other lawyer connected with the inquiry, was suddenly keeping quiet about the issue.

The public row over the inquiry, set up by the Labour Government in 1998, has generally been over its cost — already the most expensive in British legal history at £52m and rising — but specifically over lawyers’ bills.

Such tabloid fury is hardly surprising, considering the fees the inquiry has so far racked up, largely commanded by practitioners appointed to advise the inquiry team.

More than half of the £52m of taxpayers’ money has gone to lawyers, with Eversheds, charged with taking witness statements and providing professional support to the inquiry team, netting £10.8m so far, according to official figures.

Fees to the 22 barristers involved have been even more eye-catching, netting a total of £7.1m.

The commercial silk Christopher Clarke QC, appointed by Lord Saville as counsel to the inquiry in 1998, is estimated to have earned around £1.2m from the inquiry since his appointment, with his first junior, Alan Roxburgh, not far behind on just less than £1m.

Charge-out rates for senior barristers have been set at £1,500 per day, with £62 an hour for travelling costs, while Eversheds is estimated to have charged itself out at around £180-£200 an hour.

When you add in the £6.3m for the 10 solicitors of British soldiers and of the Ulster families affected, there has been no shortage of material for the inquiry’s critics.

The situation has been inflamed further by a campaign by a group of barristers involved to see their costs raised. In August last year, costs judge Peter Hurst agreed to a rise in rates for the barristers representing the families, coupled with a lift on the weekly cap on hours, which, taken together, could lead to a 55% rise in their annual fees.

Seven of the Northern Irish law firms involved, and 20 counsel, are in negotiations with the Northern Ireland Office on a proposed further hike in fees, which could see the hourly rates for leading barristers rise 16% from £1,500 to £1,750.

Of course, much of the current furore over the inquiry has been generated by the 30th anniversary of Bloody Sunday itself. Parliamentary questions tabled two years ago already showed the cost of the inquiry estimated at £60m, £40m of which was expected to cover legal bills, but little interest was shown at the time.

Yet while cooler observers may raise an eyebrow at some of the more strident attacks on the profession, in many ways the inquiry has opened itself up to such criticism.

The proceedings have been dogged by inaccurate assessments of the time and expense needed to fulfil its brief, while investment and infrastructure, notably in the inquiry’s state-of-the-art IT system, has certainly been at the top end of expectations.

Lawyers involved typically claim that certain levels of fees were needed — the inquiry had already agreed to benchmark rates to high court proceedings instead of legal aid rates — if leading lawyers were to be attracted.

The earnings of Clarke, who could earn twice as much in London commercial courts, are a case in point, while there is clearly more lucrative corporate work out there for Eversheds.

But such comments neatly sidestep the issue of why the ‘vocational’ aspect of much public sector work, which is supposed to excuse low pay in other socially responsible professions, does not apply to the law.

Likewise, while recognising the ability of the lawyers involved, questions remain as to why commercial specialists have been so liberally appointed to an inquiry that clearly drew as much on criminal proceedings as on civil.

Indeed, such are the sums of money and demands being made of firms in such an inquiry, some commercial firms, which will have previously steered clear of such work, are reconsidering whether the economics of their business rules them out.

“It is a volume business,” said James Bagge, litigation partner at Norton Rose. “If you are engaged in an inquiry like that for any length of time, the hours you put in soon mount up. It is not as poorly paid as it might appear.”

Despite its emphasis on high-end corporate and commercial work, Eversheds has poured considerable resources into developing its investigations and inquiries team, a four-partner, 50-lawyer unit dedicated to public inquiry work. Other high-profile work handled by the team includes the Harold Shipman inquiry.

But for most leading firms, the attraction of such work still appears to be limited.

Eversheds, with its strong litigation practice and long history as a leading public law adviser, is something of an exception among the top 50 firms and by all accounts has acquitted itself well under demanding circumstances.

But for most UK law firms, which take an ever more cold-blooded view of the work they are prepared to accept, the prospects for breaking into inquiry work remain limited.

No matter. The UK has plenty of experienced firms more familiar with criminal, claimant civil work and civil liberties to take up the baton. And the suspicion must be that the bills will end up rather more modest at future inquiries.

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