5 Months ago, on May 8th, Belizeans made history when they decided, via a national referendum, that they wanted to go to the ICJ to resolve Guatemala's territorial claim over Belize.
Since then, government has been taking the necessary procedural steps to proceed to the ICJ.
But, it has become obvious to the Prime Minister and his advisors that a painful decision must be taken soon. He's taking a hard look at what are likely the astronomical fees that the country will incur, so as to give us the best fighting chance at the Hague.
And so, as head of Government, he has invited offers from some of the top law firms in the world, to sort of shop around for the best offer. He made it clear that the firm, Freshfields, which was previously retained, is among the possible options:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"It's costing as you would imagine a great deal of money. We've been operating on the basis of paying for work done. Now that the matter if referred to the court, we know there is going to be the litigation and the question arises of entering into an agreement as to charges as to how fees will be calculated and as to how we will pay. I just saw a ranking by the financial times a European law firm and they have fresh fees at the top, so let me be clear that there is no dissatisfaction with the level of representation by fresh fees at all, but we thought that for purposes of transparency now that you're getting to the point where you have to pull the trigger on this huge expense, the Belizean people deserve to know that we invited a number of law firms to as it were tender for the contract, the retainer to represent Belize at the ICJ."
Reporter
"Are you able to tell us, give us an idea about what the fees this particular case would look like when we finally get to the...?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"Let me know do so, because the different law firms that we've invited to tender have different rates of fees. I don't know that any - these are all top level firms and none of them is cheap. We are trying to be very careful to weigh everything in the balance and to try to make the best decision on behalf of the Belizean people. A decision that will give us the best value for the shitload of money that we will have to spend."
Some estimates have estimated those lawyer fees at 10 million US dollars.
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