Can I Challenge a Solicitor’s Bill?

Clients often find themselves at odds with their solicitors over legal fees. If you’ve received a legal bill that seems excessive or unfair, you may be able to challenge it.

Whilst solicitors are required to provide estimates of their expected charges to their clients, given the unexpected nature of litigation and the fact that many solicitors still charge on an hourly rate basis, charges can often exceed expectations when any initial estimate has been given.

Even if a solicitor has performed their duties competently, clients may still find the fees unexpectedly high. This can occur due to various factors, including inadequate communication, excessive time spent on specific tasks, or other potential issues.

Solicitors Act 1974

The Solicitor’s Act 1974 empowers clients to challenge legal fees outlined in a bill, especially in non-contentious areas like business agreements (often associated with Conditional Fee Agreements). This applies to a wide range of legal services, including property transactions, business disputes, and personal injury claims. Both hourly rates and additional costs (disbursements) can be contested under this legislation.

Reasons for Challenging a Solicitor’s Bill under the Solicitors Act 1974

There are several valid reasons for challenging a solicitor’s fees under the Solicitors Act in England and Wales. Common grounds include:

1. Excessive Charges: You believe the charges for the work done are unreasonably high. Solicitors must only charge reasonable fees, and you can challenge any fees you think are excessive for the nature or complexity of your case.
2. Overcharging for Time: Solicitors often bill by the hour, so if you feel the time recorded is inflated or unjustified (e.g., excessive time on routine tasks), you can question this.
3. Lack of Transparency or Poor Billing Details: Solicitors are required to keep you informed about costs. If the bill lacks detail, is vague, or doesn’t clearly outline the work done, it may violate transparency requirements. Requesting a detailed bill can help clarify the charges.
4. Hidden or Unexpected Fees: If the solicitor did not inform you of certain costs upfront or included unexpected disbursements (e.g., travel expenses, additional consultation fees), this can be challenged, especially if they weren’t previously discussed or agreed upon.
5. Poor Quality of Work or Service: If the solicitor’s work was substandard, incomplete, or resulted in delays or other issues affecting your case, you may have grounds to challenge some or all of the fees.

Each of these issues could serve as grounds for challenging a solicitor’s bill, and you may use one or more in your request for a detailed assessment if informal negotiation with the solicitor is unsuccessful.

How to Challenge a Solicitor’s Bill

If you have received a solicitor’s bill that you disagree with, then the first thing you should do is file a complaint with the law firm. You can write to them detailing your issues with the bill and requesting clarification or a reduction.

Solicitors must have a complaint procedure in place, and they should respond to your concerns. This step is important because the Legal Ombudsman typically expects you to have tried to resolve the issue with the solicitor first. If you can’t reach a satisfactory outcome with the solicitor, you can escalate your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Timing is key, and you must contact the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from your solicitor. Alternatively, you must do so within one year from the date of the problem.

The Legal Ombudsman can take a range of actions. They might ask the solicitor to reduce the final bill, refund part of it, or pay compensation if they find the charges unreasonable or if service issues impact you financially or emotionally.

If you have still not received a satisfactory outcome, you may wish to instruct a Costs Lawyer or a Costs Draftsman to apply to the Court to challenge the Solicitor’s fees under the Solicitors Act. A costs judge at the Senior Courts Costs Office will then decide on the matter.

Issuing proceedings under the Solicitors Act is a litigious process which can be extremely expensive, and requires the input of specialist Solicitors or Costs Lawyers to make submissions on technical points to the Court on what reasonable charges should be recoverable.

It is important that if you have paid the fees in the statute bill, that any request for assessment is lodged within one month of the date of the same. If you have not paid the bill, you generally have twelve months to carry out an assessment of the bill. Thereafter, assessment can only be ordered under special circumstances.  

Why choose Greener Costs?

Greener Costs are a team of expert Law Costs Draftsmen & Costs Lawyers with in excess of 25 years combined experience in the field of legal costs. We can assist both Solicitors and Clients, and recommend the co-operation of both, to resolve legal fee disputes without the costly involvement of the Courts. Though if it progresses to that point, our team are experienced in assisting in court cases, from the county court to high court proceedings.

In addition to our drafting services, at Greener Costs, we are actively doing everything we can to ensure our business benefits the environment.

We are doing this through carbon offsetting of our staff, becoming completely paperless and carbon offsetting through each instruction.

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