Challenging solicitors' fees
If you think that your solicitor has charged you more than you agreed to pay then you may be able to challenge the solicitor’s bill. There are very strict (and short) time limits for challenging a solicitor's bill so do not delay in seeking advice.
If a solicitor fails to advise you about the likely costs that will be incurred if you instruct him or her then you may be able to successfully challenge the solicitor’s bill.
The procedure is different for
Since September 1999 it has been a mandatory requirement for a solicitor to advise clients in writing about the likely costs that will be incurred. Failure to give that advice is a breach of solicitor's rules of professional conduct and the Legal Complaints Service is likely to impose a penalty on any solicitor who fails to comply.
The solicitor’s costs advice must be reasonably accurate. If a solicitor provides a costs estimate that is then exceeded by more than a permissible margin of error (usually about 20%) there is a good chance that because of the solicitor’s inadequate advice his bill will be reduced back to the level of the initial estimate, without the need to prove that the solicitor has been negligent.
Sometimes poor costs advice, or negligent legal advice from a solicitor about the merits of a case, can have disastrous consequences for the client which can only be put right by pursuing a solicitor's negligence claim. For example, if you are told that you have a very strong case and it will cost £20,000 to bring the case, but half way through you are told that the £20,000 has already been spent and actually the case is going to cost £100,000, it may be that you are then forced to drop the case ending up with substantial wasted costs.
If it can be shown that the solicitor's poor costs advice was also negligent, it may be best to pursue a professional negligence claim against the solicitor.
Even in "no win - no fee" cases in which the solicitor is only paid by the client if the case is won, good advice about the solicitor’s costs is essential.
If a case is lost then, although there is no fee payable to the solicitor there will probably be a liability to pay the opponent's legal costs. It is therefore important that your solicitor arranges insurance against that risk. We have advised a number of clients in connection with claims against solicitors who have negligently failed to advise them about the need to insure against the risk of a liablility for their opponent's costs.
Contact us to arrange a free consultation with one of our professional negligence solicitors.