News International (NI) has spent more than £53m on its investigation into phone-hacking at the company since last summer, with the majority used to pay legal and professional fees.

The figure is contained within NI's accounts, recently filed on Companies House, which detail the company's expenses during the 10 months since the closure of the News of the World.

Following the closure of the tabloid last July, News Corp appointed a management and standards committee to lead the company's response to the wider hacking claims, chaired by One Essex Court's Lord Grabiner QC.

Linklaters and Olswang were also key advisers to the committee, with US firm Debevoise & Plimpton appointed to provide oversight for the group.

Olswang was specifically instructed by NI to draw up a new code of practice for the company, with the firm's team led by senior partner Mark Devereux and head of judicial review and public law Dan Tench.

NI also publishes The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times.

The news comes after it emerged in February this year that NI parent company News Corp had paid out nearly $200m (£125m) in legal costs relating to the phone-hacking scandal, with the majority spent on external advice.

The figures, contained within the company's results for the last three months of 2011, showed the media giant spent $87m (£55m) in legal fees and investigations into phone-hacking at NoW during the period up to 31 December last year.

The costs came in addition to a total of $108m (£68m) News Corp had paid out during the previous quarter, $17m (£11m) of which had not been previously disclosed. The money principally went towards restructuring its UK newspaper business after the closure of NoW.

The latest news comes after former NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks was yesterday (15 May) charged by the Crown Prosecution Service alongside five others with perverting the course of justice in relation to phone-hacking.