Can solicitors do this?

[samosamo]

I retained a litigation lawyer. He just wasn't listening to me and what I wanted; he sent the other side that went against my instructions, and was pushing for me to accept an agreement that would cause me inconveniences abd would benefit the other side.

So, I asked him to stop working on the matter.

He then sent through a bill for £6k. The settlement he wanted me to accept was for £5k. I asked him for the breakdown of his fees. He responded that he doesn't take note of his time spent as such, but can make some estimates. This has come back at £13k now.

I want to also add that along the way I asked him twice for an update on where u stood with his fees abd he did not respond.

I feel blindsided abd quite bad about this.

Does his conduct contravene regulations, or is is unusual or bad practice? I work in a clinical role and if I acted comparably it would be deemed unprofessional, but I just don't know whether it's the same for lawyers?

Where do I start with getting an idea of whether this is bad practice and if so what I can do, please??

• sent the other side emails...

At the outset he should have sent you a terms and conditions letter setting out costs etc.
If you are not happy with the bill you have the right to question it.
Complain to him and then follow the firms complaints procedure.

You could report him to the SRA or call The Law Society for advice but yes - he was required to send you terms of engagement

Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates solicitors and how they should conduct themselves re fees

www.sra.org.uk/consumers/instructing/costs-legal-aid/

They are supposed to agree a few charging basis and keep you up to date with costs as the case progresses

*fee charging basis, not few!

Thank you.

I did sent an engagement letter at the beginning, but I felt he just took control of this all and railroaded me.

I'm upset at such a huge bill that has more than doubled sinve asking for the billing breakdown when I asked to be updated on his fees along the way and received none. And really, I've been left in a chappy spot re. the other side because he agreed issues with them that I specifically said no to. And the bill is all estimates as he doesn't keep timesheets? It seems very peculiar for professional services.

He advised me that we couldn't claim costs as the claim wouldn't exceed £10k. However I met another litigator whom I spoke to just briefly and they mentioned a way that I could have (but by then this method would have expired). I questioned my lawyer about why he hadn't told me about that option, but he shrugged it off.

So I am wondering whether he saw me coming, or at some point he just decided on the outcome he wanted and was always going to take me there.

I just feel bad about this, and a little silly.

Complain now OP to The Law Society 🌺

I'm upset at such a huge bill that has more than doubled sinve asking for the billing breakdown when I asked to be updated on his fees along the way and received none.

Clearly he has presented this bill hoping it will scare you into paying the £5K instead.

I’d think not keeping a record of billable hours is grounds not to pay, as is agreeing issues specifically against your instructions. Do you have all correspondence in writing?

I think complain to Law Society too.

Were you given an estimate of what this would cost?

How long did this go on?

The Law Society is your best friend right now OP.. they will investigate and penalise fairly 🌺

@BlueThistles

The Law Society is your best friend right now OP.. they will investigate and penalise fairly 🌺

It's the SRA not Law Society.

I do have correspondence in writing. I also have in writing that I do not want his fees to exceed the proposed settlement.

This has been going on for a while. The first part of the work I paid him £5k for. I put this down as money one might have to pay to defend one's property. Left it at that, with the idea that I'd take my neighbour to small claims court for damage to my house amounting to about £9k. Then about 18 months ago my neighbours lawyer emailed with a £5k offer. I was going to just say yes, but asked my lawyer just to correspond on this. My lawyer then thought he should raise all manner of issues to ensure everything was to tickety boo, so started asking things like 'what should happen when you need access to attend to your property?' which led the other side to get ideas and start asking for things (like perpetual rights to enter my property to attend to their house at any given time, abd to put up a new fence with a gate that allowed them this access which they asked me to pay towards (???)), which I didn't agree to given that even in this time my neighbour climbed over my fence and spat all over my garden (I know, ewwwww) for which they received a simple caution (the police tested the dna and matched it to my neighbour indicating they were already on the database fhs). I'm happy to rely on the laws in place which protect us both. Then they caused more damage to my fence costing £800 to fix on another occasion (this is all while we're going through lawyers to deal with the first infraction) so NO i do not want these people in my garden whenever they want and not needing to give me notice.

This kind of thing which was NOT an issue previously when my neighbour just offered the money for closure. The lawyer gir involved again, complicated it all and is now charging me £13k for it on estimated hours.

So my lawyer has left me in a spot and with a hefty bill literally for nothing. For me, things have gone backwards in fact.

@iloverock

At the outset he should have sent you a terms and conditions letter setting out costs etc. If you are not happy with the bill you have the right to question it. Complain to him and then follow the firms complaints procedure.

This

Good lord I'm so angry. It feels like an abuse of position and I can't see how I could have helped myself as I felt more abd more stuck with this lawyer the more convoluted he made things. I did call up another lawyer in attempt to move the file, but this lawyer said it would cost too much as they'd in effect start again.

I'm mad at myself too. Mad I was silly enough to choose this lawyer. He's moved firms three times in three years since holding this file. Aaarrrggghhh

I can't imagine any business not keeping track of billing hours, it seems bizarre.

Thank you all.

I'll calm down and do this by the end of the week. I'll check in again after if thats OK.

I used to be a legal secretary for the best part of 30 years.

Sounds a bit strange but doesn't surprise me if it's one of the old school type practices.

He should have sent you terms and an estimate of fees at the outset. In those terms it should have stated how often you'd get a bill and how often you'd get a costs update letter.

He should have a legal accounts package that records his time and will provide a breakdown of his fees at a push of a button. We used to get some clients complaining that we'd charge a set amount for letters out for eg when they'd only be one paragraph long. But it's there in black and white in the Client care letter (that most never read properly - not saying this is you op!). The breakdown will record things like letters out, letters in, preparation time which may be even things like reading and consideration of documents or preparing for a hearing, travel time, telephone calls received and made, court hearings etc. Have you had anything like this?

Have a read through your client care letter again, there will be a section there telling you how to complain. If can't be resolved between yourselves then you can contact the ombudsman who
Will look into it for you.

I can imagine a lawyer not keeping track or padding it out, let's say. But telling me? Its all beyond me. I feel hoodwinked

Yes. Says invoices should be monthly. Had none. Was ignored when I asked.

Does say they'll charge for all of that but, just that it's charged at 6 minute intervals (the latter being usual). Looks like he's saying he dud every bit if the wiek and nit a paralegal etc so he's charged me his top rate for absolute everything.

Not an old school firm as far as I can tell.

Oops sorry for those typos. I'm on a phone in the kitchen angrily eating a huge pot of onken yoghurt.

Ive worked in costs law and you can certainly dispute the costs. You can ask him for a Bill of Costs but be warned, he will charge for the time spent in preparing it.

You can always seek advice from a Law Costs Draftsman who can negotiate on your behalf on matters relating to costs

Was it a Conditional Fee Arrangement you had ?

And yes, it is stipulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority that you should have been given regular costs updates .

@Stayfreshcheesebags

And yes, it is stipulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority that you should have been given regular costs updates .

This (in addition to the initial costs estimate). Check your letter of engagement and the terms of business for the complaints partner and go from there.

The difficulty you have is that if the litigation is ongoing and their fees are nit paid, they will have a lien over their files meaning they will keep them
and not send them into your new solicitor. This could cause you problems if you have not received / retained copies of everything.

@samosamo

Yes. Says invoices should be monthly. Had none. Was ignored when I asked.

Does say they'll charge for all of that but, just that it's charged at 6 minute intervals (the latter being usual). Looks like he's saying he dud every bit if the wiek and nit a paralegal etc so he's charged me his top rate for absolute everything.

Not an old school firm as far as I can tell.

Yes it's always rounded up into six minute units but t ex boss would always reduce bills. I he would have worked for bloody free if o hadn't have been on the ball with sending bills out.

Thank you all.

I have just started to look at the Code of Conduct. I clicked on Maintaining Trust as its first and resonated with me because of the many times I told him I had lost confidence in his being able to follow my instructions and trust in his work. The first point is:

You do not unfairly discriminate by allowing your personal views to affect your professional relationships and the way in which you provide your services.

Now, I might be wrong here, but he did write to me (not verbatim) that I should have expected problem neighbours given the area I bought my house in (gentrified area). I found that truly disgusting as the street is such a lovely family area where people live for decades and I regularly saw people walk in and out of neighbours houses with their dinner just for chats etc. And actually the neighbour I had a problem with is a university educated marketing executive. That really angered me and reading this point makes me wonder whether his performance was impacted by prejudice.

Thank you so much for your help so far