Solicitor's fees hidden cost?

[ErinH]

I've just received an invoice from my solicitor nearly a year after he stopped working for me. It's for £1765 for work carried out by Counsel in Oct 2009. A cost that I was not aware of.
I received two invoices during the time he was working for me to cover cost by work carried out by Counsel in Sept 09 and Nov 09. The two invoices were for £1414 and £414 respectively. Our solicitor estimated the cost for work done by Counsel to be between £1500 and £2000. We settled these bills immediately.
Last week I received an additional invoice for £1765. The solicitor claims it was for work done in Oct 09 (between the two invoices) by Counsel, but because he was concerned it would be too much for me to pay at the time, he agreed with Counsel to retain this cost and charge it at a later date. Something that I was not aware of or agreed to.

I need to know if these costs are my responsibility or my legal obligation to pay. I know what I want to do, but legal advice is needed so I know where I stand. So in short the solicitor estimated a cost and invoiced me for a similar amount. 18 months later he sends another invoice for costs that he decided to hide and/or agreed with Counsel to hide and invoice at a later date without my permission. Am I liable for these costs?

[Collaborate]

It sounds as if he simply forgot to pass the invoice on to you, or the barrister's clerk forgot to draw up a bill.

He will have had a responsibility to:

1. Notify you in advance what costs might be expected to be. This is an estimate rather than a quote. If the estimate changes, he should let you know, but often things can move very quickly, as appears to have been the case with you (3 hearings in 3 months).
   

Was the over all cost similar to any estimates you were sent?

1. Promptly bill you for work carried out.
   

Either of these may mean that the bill could be reduced, or simply waived. Your first port of call should be the firm's internal complaints procedure. When you initiate a complaint the firm should write to you with a copy of their procedure which will set out your options should you be dissatisfied with how they respond to the complaint.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

Collaborate, I have a similar issue with a solicitors bill and wonder if you could give me some advice.

I have a dispute with my solicitor in that I was given an estimate for costs in an employment case in the engagement letter. The estimate was drawn up with the assumption that the case would proceed to a full tribunal hearing.

The case proceeded to tribunal and no revised cost estimate was issued.

After the case was concluded the solicitor issued a final bill which was more than 50% more than the estimate. I then received a revised estimate in the post the next day! (dated the previous day)

Am I right in thinking that it is unreasonable of the solicitor to have not kept me informed of these increased costs before they were incurred to give me a chance to decide whether or not to proceed? I put aside money to cover the estimate but because of the increase I do not have enough to settle this bill.

Should I make a complaint to the solicitor as I am appalled that I have been put in this position.

[Collaborate]

It's worth a go.

[Collaborate]

Depends also on how regular they were in billing you. If they billed you every month then you will have seen how costs were escalating, and had the opportunity to withdraw. Was the initial estimate realistic in the first place? Don't know.

[EldritchCleavage]

A barrister must bill within 3 months of doing the work in order to be entitled to recover his fee. That is in the Bar Code of Conduct. Ask to be sent a copy of Counsel's fee note. If your Counsel did not bill the solicitor within the three months, you are not liable to pay.

I am not sure of the position if the barrister did bill in time but the solicitor did not pass on the bill to you.

The 'agreement' between solicitor and Counsel to defer fees sounds very odd, and not really appropriate because it amounted to withholding from you the full figure of Counsel's fees.

You should have been told what the full liability was. If Counsel then decided to give you extra time to pay, all well and good. However, the way it has been done suggests to me that it is just possible your barrister may have fallen foul of the 3 month rule and s/he and your solicitor are trying to recover the fees nonetheless.

You can ring the Bar Standards Board or Bar Council to establish what the rules are, or try their websites. I certainly wouldn't feel you have to pay up without making further enquires.

[ErinH]

My solicitor has admitted that he deliberately kept these costs from me. He was going to sneak them into a later (much larger) bill when the issue went to court. In the end, he stopped working for me before any further work could be carried out by Counsel. He now wants the money that he owes Counsel. I believe Counsel invoiced him at the time, but it was agreed that that amount be paid at a later date. We never saw this invoice and were not aware that any costs would be incurred at a later date for work carried out in Oct 09.

[sneezecakesmum]

Dont know about the legalities but it sounds similar in nature to those spam emails from Nigeria! Pretty outrageous for a professional person to behave this way and to inform you that he and the other party to the agreement were conspiring behind your back to withold information about your financial liability.

[Collaborate]

Your solicitor has a professional responsibility to render bills promptly. You may find the SRA (or legal ombudsman - changes so fast I haven't a clue who regulates me now!) reduces or extinguishes your bill.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

Collaborate, they issued one interim bill which was for about half the estimate. Then nothing until this final bill. No indications given verbally or in writing that the final bill would be very different from the estimate.

No idea if the original estimate was realistic, I am not a solicitor.

Isn't it the responsibility of the solicitor to give a reasonable estimate then revise it if necessary? Surely i should have been informed when the actual costs reached the level of the estimate?

[Collaborate]

Yes that's right. Sometimes though cost add up very quickly at the end of the case in an unexpected way. I agree though that prima facie you have cause for complaint.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

I will give it a go.

I was not aware of any factors that would have given rise to unexpected costs, certainly the revised estimate (though difficult to call it this as it was issued after the final bill!) gave no indication of any.

I am so annoyed I have been put in this position when I put aside what I thought would be enough money in good faith.

This solicitor appears to think I have bottomless pockets.

[A1980]

"The 'agreement' between solicitor and Counsel to defer fees sounds very odd"

Not at all odd. We do it all the time. Ask them to defer fees until the end of the case, etc

[tiggersreturn]

An estimate must be within 10% accuracy otherwise it's unrecoverable. That's the current rules for solicitors fees. Give the SRA a call and ask for advice. If they confirm the position re counsel then just write a firm letter back stating you have consulted with the SRA and they say x therefore you will not be paying the bill.

[Collaborate]

A1980 - this isn't the end of the case. It's 18 months later. IME potentially irrecoverable.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

tiggersreturn - can you quote me the regulation that states anything over 10% is unrecoverable? I was billed 50% more than the estimate.

[tiggersreturn]

www.collyerbristow.com/Fileserver.aspx?oID=1244&lID=0 - 15% for this case

www.kain-knight.co.uk/downloads/pdfs/Costs%20Review%20No%204.pdf - look at Eversheds LLP v Cuddy

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

Wow, thanks for that Tiggers.

Will use it in the letter of complaint I am drafting now.

As I received no revised "estimate" of costs until the day after the case was finished, and thus all costs incurred, I should have a pretty good case.

[tiggersreturn]

I'd recommend ending your letter with a suggestion that if they're not happy for the matter to rest in this way you can both apply to the SRA to have them assist with this.

[CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables]

Thanks tiggers.

Letter went recorded delivery today. Now to wait 8 weeks for a response!