Solicitor overcharging me?

DieselASFC

So, long story short. I had a bad accident at Work in November, and instructed a solicitor in February to make a claim. I then accepted the first offer from the Insurance company in July, which on top of my compensation also included up to £10,000 for my legal fees. After the initial consultation with my Solicitor, I assumed this would be ample as he told me it would probably be in the region of 4-6k. So, anybody else with any experience tell me if they're taking the mickey?

Itsgottabedone

My few interactions with solicitors have always started off with them providing me with terms and conditions, including the costs of their services (cost per hour, per letter, etc). There was no written estimate of total costs, understandably, as the amount of work to be undertaken depended on several external factors. Once I had accepted the terms and conditions they would send a statement at intervals throughout the process to keep me up to date with the costs to date and to request an interim payment.

It sounds as though you were working with a no-win no-fee type solicitor? Were you provided with their terms and conditions, with charges per hour, etc.? You need to ask for an explanation of why the final costs exceeded the original estimate of costs. They may well be able to justify the increased costs.

bris

A typical case is around 15k.


In any case it really doesn't concern you as the legal costs are paid separate from the compensation, so it's not you he is overcharging.

unholyangel

DieselASFC wrote: »

So, long story short. I had a bad accident at Work in November, and instructed a solicitor in February to make a claim. I then accepted the first offer from the Insurance company in July, which on top of my compensation also included up to £10,000 for my legal fees. After the initial consultation with my Solicitor, I assumed this would be ample as he told me it would probably be in the region of 4-6k. So, anybody else with any experience tell me if they're taking the mickey?

Nowhere near enough information to be able to tell you that. For a start (unless I've missed it) you haven't even told us how much the solicitor is charging.

Its also potentially affected depending on the agreement you had with the solicitor. If you lost were you going to pay your own costs? Or was there a conditional fee agreement in place? No win no fee is (at least as we knew it) a thing of the past - where your legal costs would be claimed on top of the compensation award. They didn't think it was fair the claimant was taking no risk while the defendant wasn't afforded the same so Lord Jacksons reform saw an end to those types of agreement. Now, its a CFA (conditional fee agreement) where if you lose, they'll get insurance in place to cover it (providing you stick to their terms - which usually includes not accepting a settlement offer without their agreement). If you win, your legal costs come off your compensation - up to a maximum of 25%. That relates to court awards but if you have entered in one of these agreements and accepted the settlement without your solicitors agreement, you'll likely find a term saying you're liable for their costs.

Solicitors usually only work to a set price for a limited range of things - such as perhaps a divorce or when buying/selling a house. Even then, they usually reserve the right to charge more if it includes quite a bit more work than would normally be required.

I would expect your agreement to be on an hourly basis and the 4-6k figure an estimate rather than a quote.

steampowered

If the offer was up to £10,000 for your fees - that doesn't mean your solicitor would charge the full £10,000. Though I guess there is no incentive for them to control costs below that, given that the insurer is paying.