Solicitors costs law
Esoteric and arcane
but crucial if you find yourself unfortunately embroiled in an
argument about how much money may be due or not due for a
solicitor's services.
GUISE specialise in
dealing with complex issues of costs law and regularly advise:
-
Paying parties
about the extent of their liability.
-
Solicitors in
connection with issues they may face when seeking to recover
their costs. We also provide advice about any
disciplinary issues to which that recovery may give rise.
-
About investigations concerning Inadequate Professional
Service (IPS) where awards can amount to sums of up to
£15,000 in addition to any bill reduction that may be
awarded by the Legal Complaints Service.
We can represent you
in the Supreme Court Costs office in central London and before
Costs Judges in the regions.
***Stop Press***
Tony Guise has
recently been interviewed for LNTV on the issue of solicitors
costs estimates and recoverable fees.
http://www.college-of-law.co.uk/law-firms/10-topics.html
Course available
from February 2010.
Solicitors:
If you have received
an application under section 70 Solicitors Act, 1974 act quickly
as you can take no further action to recover your fees until the
assessment of those fees is concluded.
Timing is everything
and no order can be made on applications made:
► more than 12
months from the delivery of the bill; or,
► after judgment has
been given for the recovery of the costs; or,
► during the 12
months following payment of the bill(s).
except
in "special circumstances" - which is an area of law of its own.
If in doubt seek advice.
Clients:
If you have received
a detailed bill of costs from your solicitor - act quickly
as you only have 21 days from service of the Notice of
Commencement in which to serve Points of Dispute otherwise you
will be taken to accept the fees claimed.
NOTE: the term
"service" does not mean the date you received the
document but refers to the date on which it was placed in the
post or otherwise sent to you. Act quickly - seek early
advice before time runs out!
We offer added value
support to solicitors and their clients alike through the
technical papers on our Publications page (Guise
Solicitors | Publications - Solicitors Costs). Amongst
those are 3 papers on the current law relating to fee
estimates.
There is also a free
e-mail update. Just
e-mail
us if you wish to
subscribe.
We are prepared to
work on conditional fee agreements and fixed fees where
appropriate.
We are always
prepared to discuss issues over the telephone or in an initial
meeting on a no obligation basis.
For more information
please
e-mail
or telephone 020 7264 0350.
