S'pore judge cuts lawyer's bills from S$108,225 to S$34,000, calls it 'plainly excessive'

A lawyer in Singapore charged a client S$108,225 in fees for work done before the trial even started.

Finding the amount to be “plainly excessive”, a district judge slashed the bill to S$34,000 in a taxation review application.

The lawyer's firm has filed an appeal against this decision.

Billed more than estimated cost

A written judgment on Dec. 22, 2025 said Vijay Kumar Rai of Arbiters Inc Law Corporation, had acted for a beauty salon, De Beaute, in a civil suit against a former employee for breaches of employment.

The firm took over the case in February 2023 and provided a fee estimate of S$70,000 up to the end of the trial.

De Beaute was first given seven invoices totalling S$33,285, each around S$4,000 and S$5,000 in professional fees.

They had paid for all seven invoices.

However, in September 2023, Arbiters issued an eighth invoice charging S$40,000 in fees before trial dates were fixed.

De Beaute then discharged Arbiters and engaged a different firm to handle the lawsuit and the dispute over the bills.

Bill dispute

The bill dispute had gone through several stages, including a request by De Beaute for the bills to be assessed by the court in October 2024.

Arbiters then appealed to the High Court against this decision, with Rai arguing that he had carried out “an enormous amount of work” due to the complexity of the matter.

This appeal was dismissed in March 2025 by the appeal judge, who found the amounts in the invoices to be “plainly excessive”.

He also said the matter was "not as complex" as Rai made it out to be.

A State Courts deputy registrar then assessed the bill and reduced the fees from S$108,225 to S$46,000 in August 2025.

Arbiters then applied for a review of this decision, leading to the latest judgement.

Fees slashed

In considering his review, the district judge said he took into account the costs guidelines for tort and commercial cases for the stage before the trial.

He also looked at the fee estimate initially provided by Arbiters, and the legal costs that were ultimately awarded to De Beaute after the firm won the suit.

He ultimately reduced the fees to S$30,000 for work done in the preparation and review of affidavits, and S$4,000 for attending a pre-trial hearing.

Previously found to have overcharged in another case

This is not the first time Rai was found to have overcharged his clients.

In December 2024, the Appellate Division of the High Court had found that Rai overcharged a couple while handling a lawsuit over their son’s death.

The court had said then that the costs claimed by Rai were so “plainly excessive as to amount to overcharging”.

He was also referred to the Law Society of Singapore for a disciplinary inquiry.

The firm had asked for about S$370,000, but the amount was later reduced to S$87,000 by the court.

Top photos from Canva