How to keep legal costs ‘reasonable’?

[Mogs43]

I’ve recently instructed a solicitor to help with an employment issue. I was given an estimate of what the case might cost- and I am clear it was an estimate and obviously could/would cost more. However today I’ve been billed for the first month and it’s already double what I was estimated. I have tried really hard not to speak or email un-necessarily and appreciate that things like reading time and drafting obviously can’t easily be estimated but some of things that have been billed for are quite surprising.

For example, prior to the solicitor taking on the case she didn’t say she worked part time. Later she left an answer phone message to say she wouldn’t be working on the Monday and emailed the respondent to ask for an extension to the previously agreed deadline. For the call and email (about two lines) I have been billed £250 plus VAT. I had to do all the follow up as the email wasn’t actually revived and solicitor wasn’t working.

She also emailed to tell me the deadline for the ET submission - which I was fully aware of. Billed me £155 plus VAT for working it out and emailing. I hadn’t asked for it and already knew it. She also emailed asking for an update (there wasn’t one) and charged me £155 plus VAT for asking and reading an email that said there wasn’t an update.

I have never instructed a solicitor before and want to have a good relationship going forward but it’s a tricky balance as I also don’t want to be ripped off.

Any advice on what I can do to manage this better or is it just how it goes? Thank you.

That does sound very expensive, does she have a high hourly rate? They should not be sending a bill twice the estimate without any warning. They should have set out at the start (in writing) what work they will do for you and an estimate of how much it would cost, including who would be doing the work and what level they are at/what their hourly rate is.

I would go back and ask them to explain why the bill is this high, has something changed since they gave you the estimate? And make sure the time for answering your questions doesn’t appear on the next bill you receive!

Employment issues?

do you have legal expenses cover with your home insurance?

As for charging structure… go through your contract and will be derailed very very clearly (this is a law firm after all!)

I am not sure if it is the same for all Law Firms but a friend of mine told me that in her firm every email, phone call etc was billed at 1 quarter of their hourly rate.

* She also emailed asking for an update (there wasn’t one) and charged me £155 plus VAT for asking and reading an email that said there wasn’t an update*

if you are honest op
mThis is an exaggeration

Thank you. She explained that the extra costs were because there was more reading than she has expected which I thought was fair - it was the other issues (as outlined previously) that I was a bit unsure of and didn’t know how to manage going forward.

Genuinely not an exaggeration! I wish it was - billed for 23 minute email exchange asking whether there had been a response from the respondent (there hadn’t) and Informing me that she would be on annual leave and who to ask for in the legal firm if they contacted whilst she was away.

This isn’t meant to be an attack I genuinely just wanted advice from those who are more experienced on how to manage costs to stop them escalating un-necessarily going forward.

I do have legal expenses insurance but was advised by my insurer that these only kick in once it gets ti a court/ ET. The solicitor has advised that they will likely need topping up?

How much is the solicitors hourly rate (normally it will then be cut down into 6 minute "units" - so if the hourly rate is £200, a simple letter out should really not cost any more than £20) and how experienced is s/he. The more experienced, the more expensive they are. Do you need someone with 10 years experience for example when someone with 1 years experience will probably do (or is your case particularly complex?)

Have a look at your client care letter - it will explain more on the costs.

Thank you. The hourly rate is £400 per hour . I suppose the challenge will be how to try and minimise the ‘basic admin functions’? So that I don’t pay for her telling me her working days/about leave or things I already know (I told them the ET cut off date before they took on the case so being charged for them to calculate it and inform me of it again rankled): but perhaps this is unavoidable? Letters are a lot more than £40.

She is one of the most junior at her practice and they say it’s a complex case. I just don’t know how so many other people manage to afford ETs?

Friend's divorce lawyer seems to charge £26 per very short email. +vat

afaik, you can haggle & start by telling them that was unreasonable to charge you for information they should have known you already had. You have to do it politely, but there's scope to query & haggle.

You can definitely dispute the charges you are unhappy about and ask for a reduction.

The thing to remember is that solicitors charge in 6 minute units so any question you ask her or any task she does will cost a minimum of £40 plus VAT even if it took 2 minutes. If something takes her 8 minutes you will be charged for 2 units, so 12 minutes costing £80 plus VAT. If you can try to ask multiple questions in one email rather than several emails it will probably work out cheaper, and also you can ask her only to email you if necessary and certainly not if there is nothing to say.

£400 per hour for a junior employment lawyer?!? You’re being ripped off. Where is the solicitor based?

In my firm a trainee employment lawyer is £225, then it ranges from £365 to £700 for qualified employment lawyers, with partners charging £775 or £850 per hour (central London).

I’m a lawyer and this would give me the absolute rage! She is padding her bill and you don’t need to put up with this.

Go through her narrative and highlight the items which should not be charged for - eg her telling you she will be on annual leave - and knock those off the total. Then look at the time spent on the other items and if it’s genuinely just a short routine email with no pre-reading required to write it, reduce the time to a 6 min charge.

if necessary remind her that you are entitled to have her costs assessed by a costs assessor at the end of the matter if you and she are still in dispute but that you trust this won’t be necessary going forward.

Finally be completely clear with her that her costs estimate is not be exceeded without prior authorisation by you and ask her for an updated estimate for the entire job now she has seen the papers and assessed the complexity. Make clear to her that if she is insufficiently experienced to deal with the matter it would be inappropriate for her to continue to act and you will go elsewhere but in those circumstances you expect a refund of some of what’s been billed already

This kind of thing really annoys me. I'm a family solicitor and we charge in units of 1 minute, not 6 minutes or, heaven forbid, 15 minutes. That means if I send a 1 line email the client gets billed £4 plus vat.

It's not hard to record time fairly.

Tribunals are expensive deliberately and a last resort if mediation fails. I have been involved in three disputes all settled in mediation. Assuming you are the instigator be very sure the outcome will outweigh the expense if it's a pride thing just settle. When this is all concluded join a union. I am with GMB who support all industries best £15 a month I could spend.

This happened to me. I sent an email reply calming stating this wasn't what we had discussed and I couldn't afford it. He replied immediately, cutting the bill down to 1/3 of the original value (think £900 down to £300). I paid it and found a new solicitor shortly thereafter.