Solicitors Bill

oldhand

Can only say im not at all surprised,have had several dealings over the years with them and have yet to be pleasently surprised at any of their bills.I realise they do have staff, office etc to pay but im always amazed by the cost of a letter! for some reason they never seem to use email,always "letter from ourselves and reply from addresse"..30 pounds to you sir....
My own firm of solicitors who I always use have however faced hardship in recent years,the senior partner has been reduced to using a 5 series BMW from his usual 7 series..tough times all round......

athensgeorgia

oldhand wrote: »

I realise they do have staff, office etc to pay but im always amazed by the cost of a letter! for some reason they never seem to use email,always "letter from ourselves and reply from addresse"..30 pounds to you sir....

You will find that no matter how the correspondence is sent it's still chargeable at the same rate. A letter will be charged at the same rate as that two line email if they took the same length of time to draft. Charges are defined in 6 minute units. So a solicitor charging £175.00 per hour who has taken 7 or 8 minutes to draft a letter will be charging you £35.00 for it. Don't get me wrong some solicitors do charge agreed fees but you will have been told "I will send such and such a letter, get a response, review it and advise you on it all for such and such price". Any more work will be agreed later down the line with a price to go along with and it's up to you whether you want to go ahead.

OP did you receive any client care documentation when you instructed the solicitor? You would usually (terms of the Law Society) receive a client care letter with a cost estimate, how much each solicitor charges, an estimate as to how long it will take for your matter to conclude, complaints procedure along with other practice specific items. You should also receive T & C's. And will have needed to sign something when you instructed the firm.

The two solicitors I work for charge a lot more than £175.00 per hour, one being a partner and the other being even more experienced so has her own charging rate, you wouldn't get any change out of over £200 per hour.