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Legal Eagle

Using the law

Q: Can I afford a solicitor?

I want to obtain legal advice on a detailed contract, but I have no experience of dealing with solicitors and therefore no idea of the costs involved. How can I find out more without the embarrassment of having to admit I can't afford to pay too much?

A: I wish all questions put to me were as easy to answer as this one. Nowadays solicitors are quite used to being asked their hourly rates of charge even by well off clients. There is no reason for them to assume that your enquiry is due to the fact that you can't afford to pay too much, nor is there the slightest reason for you to feel embarrassed about making such an enquiry. Furthermore all firms of solicitors throughout the country have been issued with a booklet by the Law Society relating to 'Client Care' in which the profession is enjoined to provide information about its costs and rates of charge to clients on taking instructions.

Many, if not most firms (including my own) now publish their own Standard Business Terms including their current hourly rates of charge, which are available on request, so you could begin by asking a number of firms for their Standard Terms, and perhaps avoid those which say they have none. Note, however that if your contract is of a specialist nature (e.g. entertainment or information technology) you must expect some uplift in the normal rates charged for more routine or non-specialist work, and you should enquire about this specifically if relevant.

From time to time various surveys have been done of comparative charging rates by reference to seniority and location of various solicitors in different parts of the country and you may be able to obtain such details from the Law Society.

If you have difficulty locating a suitable firm which specialises in the field required, there are various directories which list firms with particular specialisms, which you should be able to find at your local library or CAB or through the Law Society. Arguably the best method of finding a suitable firm is through personal recommendation. Why not ask around among your friends and then compare charging rates? Remember, however, the maxim that 'you get what you pay for!'

As a general (though not invariable) rule the more experienced and more specialist the person you go to the better the quality of advice you receive is likely to be. Furthermore, a highly skilled or experienced lawyer may do a better job in half the time than another less skilled and experienced lawyer charging half the hourly rate but taking twice the time of the first. In the unhappy event that you make a bad choice and feel you have been overcharged for a job, there are procedures available for having solicitors' costs reviewed by the Law Society or the Court.

First published November 1994