Understanding Solicitors' Charges
Most solicitors in the UK use some sort of time costing system for charging their clients in cases where it is not practical or possible to quote a fixed fee. Solicitors' charges for buying or selling a house, for drafting a will or for obtaining a divorce, for instance, are often fixed fees agreed at the outset but other types of legal work cannot really be done on the basis of fixed fees.
The most obvious example of the latter is any type of litigation. If a client sues a debtor for money owed or wants to take out an injunction for some purpose there is no way of knowing at the outset how the case might be resolved. In many cases a simple letter from a solicitor will be sufficient to obtain the desired result - whether it is the payment of a debt or the abatement of a nuisance or whatever - and the work involved will have been minimal. Sometimes it is necessary to go rather further and actually issue proceedings. Very often the receipt of a summons or a writ is more persuasive than a simple letter and it will be enough to resolve matters.
Unfortunately, there are other cases which will be bitterly contested and the only way of resolving these cases is to have a full hearing before a judge. It is not generally apreciated that such cases are the exception rather than the rule - in percentage terms very few cases actually get before a judge for decision - but the costs involved in these cases will be very much more than the costs involved in the cases described above where a solicitor's letter is enough. It is because one cannot know into which category a given case will fall in advance that time costing is necessary in many types of legal case.
The system involved in this time costing is basically the same for most solicitors (although the figures may vary) and so the following is given by way of illustration. These were the Legal Aid rates applicable in Family Law Proceedings to non-franchised firms from 1st November 1997 and they are naturally subject to variation over time. They are given by way of illustration of the principle only because these are no longer the current figures.
Writing routine letters £3.65 per item Receiving routine letters £1.85 per item Routine telephone calls £3.65 All other preparation work including any work which was reasonably done arising out of or incidental to the proceedings: £41 per hour # interviews with client, witnesses and other parties; # obtaining evidence; # preparation and consideration of, and dealing with, documents, negotiations and notices; # dealing with letters written and received and telephone calls which are not routine.
In addition to items above to cover the general care and conduct of the proceedings. Plus 50%
There are a number of points to remark upon on the above because the bare figures give a very misleading impression of what the client will eventually be requested to pay.
Firstly, note the last item - "Plus 50%". This is exceptionally important in practice. For some reason (which no doubt has a very interesting historical background but which nowadays merely serves to confuse) many solicitors' charges are made up of a basic charge plus an element for what is called "general care and conduct". So, in this case for example, the normal cost for writing a routine letter is given as £3.65 but when the 50% "uplift" is added for "general care and conduct" the amount actually charged for writing a routine letter is £5.48.
The notional justification for this is that it enables solicitors to charge rather more when the case has been exceptionally difficult, demanded special skill or achieved a particularly satisfactory outcome while being able to charge rather less in cases involving a lower level of difficulty or skill or where the result was very unsatisfactory from the client's point of view. So, in cases of the first category for example, a solicitor would be able to charge £5.48 for each routine letter written whereas in cases in the second category he might only charge £3.65.
In point of fact this is not the way the sytem works at all. In reality the 50% "uplift" is applied as a matter of course to all work and this approach is almost always endorsed by the courts if it is requested that a bill be examined as to its reasonableness. It is very important to be aware of this. Most people might think therefore that it would be better if the rate given for writing a routine letter was £5.48 rather than this notional figure of £3.65 plus a 50% "uplift" and we tend to agree with them but the system is too deeply entrenched to be easily changed. It is very important to be aware of this "uplift" and to scrutinise a solicitor's terms of business carefully at the outset to see if it applies (as it usually does). The converse, incidentally, is that the courts do not often allow a figure different from 50% as the "uplift" for general care and conduct so there are, in effect, scale rates for most things although they might be rather higher in practice than a cursory first glance might suggest.
Iif you do need any legal services from any lawyer please make sure you get written terms of business at the beginning and that you do not hesitate to ask if anything is not clear.
