Report this comment to a moderator

Billing probe reveals in-house resentment

Rewarding inefficiency The situation was (and still is) covered by the Solicitors (Non-Contentious Business Order 1994 for all non-contentious matters. There are two stages to the billing, firstly the mathematical stage, i.e. the number of hours x the hourly rate for each fee earner and secondly making a judgment as to what is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances. In practice it is very rare for solicitors to seek to charge more than the mathematical total and much more likely that (for a variety of different reasons, including simply keeping the client happy!) the solicitor will reduce the mathematical total to arrive at he/she considers to be a fair and reasonable fee. However, the practice has grown (probably influenced by American billing methods) that both the solicitors and the client regard the mathematical total as the word of God and the onus is left with the client to challenge the total if they feel it is unfair and unreasonable, which in the long term does little to foster trust between solicitors and clients.

27-Sep-2007

9:10 am