Legal costs disputes

 
 

Click here for party-party costs matters

Key points for solicitor-client costs disputes:

  • Experienced in legal costs disputes and reviewing legal bills.

  • Suspect you have been overcharged? Free initial assessment (subject to conditions below).

  • Able to act and advise in negligence claims.

  • Read my blog posts here about costs.

Also known as "assessment of costs" or "taxation of costs"

If you suspect your lawyer has over-charged you, then at no charge I will review the legal bill and give you my preliminary opinion if:

  • the legal bill / series of legal bills exceeds $50,000,

  • the lawyer practices in Western Australia, and

  • I do not have a conflict of interest.

I will give you my preliminary opinion over the phone.

This will happen within 7 days of you providing me the complete bill(s) (including the itemisations of work done by the lawyer). 

Before you send me the bills I will need to check if I have a conflict of interest.  Please first call or email me to let me know who you lawyer is / was.

Should you then engage me to act for you, the next step will be for me negotiate with the law practice / lawyer and seek a refund.

After that, we make an application to the Supreme Court of WA for the bills to be assessed by a Registrar. Sometimes, we might also seek the intervention of the Legal Profession Complaints Committee. (They may be prepared to conciliate).

Most disputes resolve at this early stage of negotiation.

It is a matter of continual surprise to me how rare it is for people unhappy with their legal bill to do something about it.

The process to get the bills independently assessed by the Supreme Court can be easy & quick, so contact me for help.

Read this fictional example of a legal costs disputes.

Read this Supreme Court of Western Australia decision in which I acted for a client against their former Law Practice.

Negligence claims

Sometimes, after looking at the lawyer's file & bills, it becomes clear there is a negligence claim that should be made against the lawyer.

I am happy to act for clients suing lawyers for negligence. The vast majority of these result in settlement, rather than the case going to trial.