Fees after initial free half hour, delay, and less than accurate work.

[grumpygrape]

I’m trying to help a neighbour (A) with an issue regarding her ex-partner and their children. I believe A has been sucked in by the ‘free half hour’ come on from a large practice of solicitors and is now facing a bill of almost £1,000 for sending a single email to her ex.

A isn’t worldly wise and is dyslexic. She had an initial phone discussion and approx. a week later the solicitor sent a draft of an email for them to send to A’s ex.

A asked me about this draft and I tried to give her some pointers to where the wording was, I felt, inappropriate (addressing the ex by his given name, referring to ‘access’ as opposed to ‘time with’ etc.’), was inaccurate, and didn’t seem to clearly reflect her views. Having seen the draft, I noticed the author is a paralegal. I asked Z if she knew what the solicitor/paralegal would be charging her, specifically if there was a fixed cost or hourly rate. She didn’t know; all she knew was the first half hour was free but realised she would have to pay after that. However, costs after the first half hour had not been discussed.

After A sending details of suggested changes to the first draft it took another week for the paralegal to respond with a second draft. Unfortunately, this draft had one sentence which was still inappropriate and grammatically didn’t make sense. It also included a threat that if ex didn’t comply with one request, A would deny him spending time with the children. This is something Z has always said she would not do unless there was a serious safeguarding issue.

The key issues A has with her ex are introducing the children to a very new partner and discussing finances with the children. Children are 7 and 10. He is also irregular with committing to and attending at pick up and drop off and has refused to use a coparenting app for calendar and communications.

A contacted the paralegal today and stated the changes she wanted to the second draft and asked what the current costs were. The paralegal later sent an e-mail stating £800 + VAT.

I have very little experience of dealing with solicitors on a commercial basis but I have checked various sources which seem to indicate the hourly rates for a paralegal are between £40 and £120 per hour, although I am aware the larger practices do charge up to £270 +VAT per hour. Sources also indicate solicitors should tell clients at their first contact what the hourly or fixed rate charges are likely to be.

Having delved into the solicitor’s’ website I find this specific paralegal’s hourly rate is £250 +VAT. The Family Solicitor in the practice charges £295 +VAT and the Director £350 +VAT. This is a large city in the Midlands/North but not London.

Does anyone have any advice I can give A ? She has unknowingly racked up a bill of almost £1,000 for an email which her ex could just ignore and which doesn’t have formal consequences. I feel she has been badly advised and served but as I wasn’t present at the initial consultation I can’t swear to any misdirection.

I don't know about the legal billing issue but your friend would be much better off trying to come to a resolution with her ex through mediation. For a start, she would in all likelihood meet the requirement for a £500 government voucher to be used towards mediation,

Your friend sounds like she'd be classed as a vulnerable customer, and there are regulations that legal advice firms have to adhere to, which it doesn't sound like they have been here. https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/resources/specific-areas-of-practice/meeting-needs-vulnerable-people/

Its not a free half hour. Its an initial meeting where a solicitor asks questions to establish whether there is any legal route for whatever problem a potential client has. All professionals have a 'free' initial consultation. Architects, accountants etc. To see if the client is a good fit, what any work might involve etc. Your friend will have a detailed letter/email setting out fees, complaints procedure etc.
I wish people on here wouldn't keep advising others to 'book a free half hour with a solicitor'.

Didn’t she get terms and conditions and did she sign the letter of engagement? They should list the fees in there. If she hasn’t signed the terms, she technically doesn’t need to pay.

Thanks for your response.Sadly, I think that comes under the heading of ‘Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda’ because the email has now been sent so although it might happen down the line it’s not viable as a next, immediate step.I wish I had pushed more to be with her at the initial meeting/phone call and insisted on going with her to Citizens’ Advice as a first move. I had offered but I think she didn’t want to ‘impose’ on me.

Depending on where she goes from here, I’ll remember the potential for the voucher. She has limited income.

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, I doubt she told the paralegal she is dyslexic for the usual ‘embarrassed’ reason. I am checking with her though.

Thanks also for the link. I had found some of the content of that site but it’s a mine field ! I wonder what onus there is on the legal profession to establish the competency of their potential clients.

Thanks for your response. Yes, I share your frustration regarding the ‘free half hour’ which is why I put it in inverted commas…. Also, if we all had a £1 for the times posters tell others to get a ‘shit hot lawyer’, we’d all be richer than the Law firms.

She tells me she has NOT had any communication regarding fees, complaints etc. One of the first questions I asked when she showed me the first draft was if she knew what she was likely to pay, was it fixed price or by the hour. She hadn’t a clue, bless her. I eventually found the paralegal's fees on the website and my eyes watered. They have very smart premises though….

I don’t think being dyslexic counts as vulnerable does it? If she literally wants to stop him introducing to a new partner (unless there are safeguarding issues with the new partner) and to stop discussing financials then she won’t get anywhere legally - he is entitled to do both even if most of us would not consider it good parenting. Turning up when he is supposed to - again, crap parenting but she cannot force him legally or otherwise. I don’t know what citizens advice is supposed to do about this either. They must have explained this to her in the meeting but said they could send a sternly worded email if she wished which she then chose to go ahead with. I am very surprised she didn’t ask them about likely cost or they ask her to sign terms of engagement covering hourly fees - are you sure she is telling the full story?

Who on earth told her to go to a lawyer for this? :( what a waste of time and money. Even if the email had cost £20 it would be a waste of money but a grand for that!! Daylight robbery. If she's willing to let you help her, I think you could write a strongly worded email arguing that the work they have completed cannot exceed one hour's work - if they are considering each edit to be a billable hour this is unreasonable given the edits were to correct their poor work!

Thanks for your response. No, she hasn’t had any Ts&Cs. She also didn’t sign a letter of engagement but having asked Uncle Google I’m not sure if that gives her a pass because the paralegal could say there was a verbal instruction.

Uncle Google’s AI friend mentions a Client Care Letter. Any one know anything about them ?

As the hourly rate for the paralegal is published on the website can they wriggle and say they don’t need to tell individual clients the rates ?

Forgetting ‘uncle google’ - this is copied from the Solicitors Regulation Authority so if they genuinely gave her nothing then she can complain. It’s so standard though and you yourself say they are a smart firm with freely available information so I would be willing to bet that they will produce signed document upon complaint that she has either forgotten or chosen to forgotten:

Client engagement with client care letters
All firms have an obligation1 to provide information about their services at the point of engagement with a client and as a matter progresses. Information that must be provided includes the likely cost and how to complain if things go wrong. When they begin working with a client, firms often provide this information in a client care letter.
Some client care letters are designed to comply with our obligations, rather than to provide information to clients in a user-friendly way. This means that many can be:

• Complicated, with legalistic language, terms and phrasing
• Too lengthy, with dense paragraphs and small font sizes, which makes finding key information difficult for clients
• Focused on generic information, such as terms and conditions, rather than specifics relevant to that client
• Unclear as to the purpose of the client care letter and any action that the client needs to take.

As a result, some clients may not understand or retain all the information in their letter. This can be heightened for individuals with low literacy levels, visual impairments, in a state of emotional distress or for whom English is a second language. It is therefore important that your client care letter is easy to understand. This will help all clients access and retain important details. One of the most common complaints made to the Legal Ombudsman is about a lack of clarity around costs. Being clear on costs at the outset in your client care letter, and as the matter progresses, can help prevent this – This is a current regulatory obligation and will be once our Standards and Regulations come into force. (paragraph 8.7 of the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs, and 7.1(c) of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms)

I don’t know if her dyslexia ‘counts’ as being vulnerable and I’m sorry you think this naïve person whose only concerns are for her children should have done this that or the other.

I had hoped Citizens Advice would have been able to advise her about her best course of action to protect her children from her ex’s crap actions, I won’t call them parenting. She didn’t go to Citizens Advice though.

She is very stressed and didn’t think to ask about costs. She maybe not as ‘on the ball’ as you.

What more of the ‘full story’ do you think she might not be telling me ?

I think she was drawn in by the lure of the old ‘free half hour’. I had suggested she go to Citizens Advice and had offered to go with her, or be with her on the phone to them but I think she didn’t want to impose on me. Ditto being with her for the ‘free half hour’ where I would have been more detached and asked about costs. It was the first question I asked when she got the first draft.

From what I know of her ex, he doesn’t have the emotional or other intelligence to understand the issues and potential harm he is doing to the children. I think she felt he would take a letter from a solicitor far more seriously than anything she told him.

Dyslexia is a form of neurodivergence, and would indeed be classed as a vulnerability, as it's not just about reading and spelling, but also affects processing speed and ability, plus short term memory. It's classed as a disability under the equality act 2010.

There is also the fact that the paralegal hasn't been clear and transparent about charges, which is another big no no.

If you are having to correct the paralegal’s work, amending out dated and incorrect terminology and them not following instructions, I would be complaining about more than just the fees

Thanks again. (It’s OK, I don’t take Uncle Google as the fount of all knowledge but he can be useful for pointers !)

I’ve just had just had a message saying she apparently did say at the initial conversation she’s dyslexic and the paralegal didn’t mention Mediation or Court. She said she thinks she told the paralegal she wanted something written down so he knew it wasn’t just something coming from her.

I think it’s a sort of case of deference to authority. If a solicitor says so, it must be so.

We all have different levels of trust, belief and confidence in authority and in our ability to challenge things.

She’s a lovely girl (OK, she’s in her 40s but she’s a girl to me) who is still reeling from the break, trying to protect the children, dealing with his new relationship, his inability to put the children first in spending time with them, parenting them (he hasn’t a clue) and there are other situations which complicate matters.

She has said again that she hasn’t had any communications regarding Ts&Cs/Fees and certainly hasn’t signed anything, as in hard copy, there has been no physical contact. All by phone and email.

I have seen the Solicitors Regulation Authority information but wasn’t sure if it covered all contact with clients or just Court cases.

I have my own time consuming problems to deal with which is one reason why I think she didn’t want to impose on me but I’m so incensed at this out of the blue, potentially nearly £1,000 bill I want to do what I can.

Thanks again. I have to go for a while but will respond later if there are any more posts.

Ask if she can search her emails for the firm in front of you - most client care letters are signed electronically now and within the small print include or reference the terms of business, fees, etc. It may be that in booking the initial meeting, she agreed to these without realising. She's very lucky to have you looking out for her.

I work for a firm of solicitors and we would flag a customer as vulnerable if they disclosed dyslexia, or gave us an indication they were vulnerable in some way, even if it didn’t have a label or if we just felt from speaking to them that something wasn’t quite right, but if someone doesn’t tell us and it’s not immediately obvious then there’s not much we can do. We would also give an estimate of fees and agree a budget point at which we would stop work and come back to them for permission to continue if we reached it.

Thanks, yes, her processing speed and ability are not in what I would class as a normal to higher range. I’ve never engaged with solicitors, apart from Will and LPoA, as a client and the fees were clear for those, so I’m on a steep learning curve….

The first draft started with ‘Dear First name’ which I had to point out was not a professional way to address the ex in a professional document.

The first draft referred to ‘contact’ with the children. I know this was an old established term but it hasn’t been used in Family Court for about 10-12 years ?

It also referred to ‘being back in employment’. When all that had happened was he’d been on sick leave with his long term employer for a few weeks.

There are no emails regarding Ts&Cs/costs. She found the solicitors on Google, phoned, explained brief details and the paralegal phoned back. It was impressed on her the first 30 minutes were fee so she ‘talked really quick’ !

It may be the conversation was recorded and she agreed to costs but once she’d declared Dyslexia I would have hoped there would be more of a duty of care ?

I feel so inadequate in trying to help her. I have some experience of Family Court but not in instructing solicitors. They seem to have given her no advice, just asked her to tell them what she wants to say and write it for her, albeit with mistakes……

Thanks for your response. She is sure she did say she is dyslexic and doesn’t recall any discussion regarding costs except being assured the first 30 minutes was free which is why she ‘talked really quick’.

I feel so impotent and think she should have been appraised at each stage what the costs were. An agreement regarding a budget point would have been brilliant. She was so very upset today to realise this would cost nearly £1,000 whether the email was sent or not.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I have to go now but will check in again tomorrow.

Being dyslexic doesn’t make you vulnerable?! Did she just not ask about costs at all? Seems very odd. When I got divorced the solicitors were all extremely clear on what their costs were.

If she’s not signed a contract then she doesn’t have to pay anything. If she has, then it’s on her.