Despite the battalions of lawyers on the federal payroll, it seems Ottawa may need some new ones. This year’s Public Accounts of Canada, released every fall by the Receiver General, show that in 2014, the federal government’s out-of-court legal settlements amounted to a record-breaking $1 billion.

The tally of annual departmental expenditures released Wednesday revealed that 94 per cent of that extravagant legal bill was divided almost evenly between two departments, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and the Department of National Defence. The remaining six per cent was divided by all the rest of the government, including a relatively paltry $556 doled out by the Senate.

The above numbers only illustrate claims settled out of court, not those determined by a judge or ex gratia payments by departments.

More troubling than this years’ shocking settlement bill is the trend that led to it.

Since 2005, the cost of settlements has gone up almost every year with only two exceptions, being in 2008 and 2012. The growth has been astounding, rising from $74.6 million in 2005 to $501.3 million in 2010 and finally to $708.4 million in 2013.

The average difference per year has been a growth of $108.9 million, with the jump from last year to now being the largest at $366.8 million.

Aboriginal Affairs is often the largest contributor to the total, this year racking up 48 per cent of the total settlement budget. Annual residential school settlement costs keep the department consistently at the top of the list, amid a host of other legal issues, with this year hitting a ten-year record at $517 million.

This is the first time in a decade, though, that National Defence has racked up such a bill, coming in at 45.6 per cent of the overall settlement costs. They came closest to it in 2005, with a $30 million tab.

The main contributor to DNDs costs was a suit worth $400 million. It was a compensation for a loss of pension benefits to 7670 unnamed people, with payments valued between $9 and $950,414.