Can anything be done about unreasonable solicitor's fees?

uk1

Jumblebumble wrote: »

Presumably liability in the case was not clear enough to merit a no win no fee with 25% commission on success type of arrangement.
This is a far better way of doing things IMHO if the case stacks up.

Yo haven't read the post or perhaps have read it and not understood the situation.

The OP said that their elderly neighbour consulted a long term family solicitor. They did not have a blank page.

There is nothing in their post which hinted they considered the choice you now suggest, so if you are trying to be helful why suggest it?

OnanTheBarbarian

I would suspect all that has happened here is the solicitors have advised their client of the costs incurred and the bill for which they (as do all clients) have liability for when a matter resolves.

If the client has no liability for the costs, they cannot recover the same from the losing party.

The costs are then presented to the third party insurers for agreement or assessment in the event agreement cannot be reached.

The situation is probably not as dire as suspected

Jumblebumble

uk1 wrote: »

Yo haven't read the post or perhaps have read it and not understood the situation.

The OP said that their elderly neighbour consulted a long term family solicitor. They did not have a blank page.

There is nothing in their post which hinted they considered the choice you now suggest, so if you are trying to be helful why suggest it?

I understand what you are saying but maybe if the OP does complain they could ask the regulator why this solicitor is charging so much more than the way that I suspect most people would engage a solicitor to act for them
I have no idea and would be interested to learn if the regulators opinion if a solicitor is meant to ask their client if they wish to enter such an arrangement

As Conan says maybe the other side will pay anyway

uk1

Jumblebumble wrote: »

I understand what you are saying but maybe if the OP does complain they could ask the regulator why this solicitor is charging so much more than the way that I suspect most people would engage a solicitor to act for them
I have no idea and would be interested to learn if the regulators opinion if a solicitor is meant to ask their client if they wish to enter such an arrangement

As Conan says maybe the other side will pay anyway

In fact AS I SAID earlier in the thread

Also, did the solicitor suggest that his fees might or would be covered by third party in the event of a successful claim? It would be quite normal to expect his fees to be paid by them. If so then your solicitor should be billing the third parties insurers with only any unclaimable and reasonable shortfall being due from your neighbour.

You are over-thinking this. This is the situation.

The solicitor operates in a free but highly regulated market and the onus is on a client to ensure that they understand the charges and if they want "shop around" for the skills, experience and charges that they are happy with.

However that also implies that as Solicitors charge large chunks of cash for their services, in order to address the problem that has built up over time ie clients not asking the right questions, or being confused and/or receiving unexpected large charges, professional standards demand that the solicitor ALWAYS ensures that the client fully understand how he is charged and what the total costs might be before he is engaged. In other words solicitors are not permitted to accept engagements if the client does not know what they are being charged.

There is also an obligation to ensure the client is kept up to date with charges. If the client ends up with a suprise the solicitor has the onus placed on them in the case of a complaint to prove that they took every reasonable step to ensure that the client understood. If the solicitor took every reasonable step but the client still misunderstood then the solicitor "wins".