Bronte
Funnily enough, costs are usually the very first thing that a client asks about. But mostly, they're not actually listening when they are being discussed because they usually have a game plan as in:
In conveyancing, it's all about the cheapest.
In Probate, it's all about doing it yourself.
In litigation, it's all about - the other person is at fault so they should pay everything and it should cost me nothing.
In family law, it's all about being wronged and the other person is entirely to blame.
Occasionally, it's about a novel (not), special (not), unusual(not) case that a client wants you to take on on a pro bono basis.
A lot of clients ( and I accept that this is incredible), simply have no concept, and even less interest, in paying a solicitor for their services. It's as if there is some magic treasure chest somewhere out of which fees are paid. Or that we are a service paid for by the State.
Finally, you have to remember that lawyers are all the same, always covering their own backs ( I never understood why I should expose myself to a negligence action from a client!), made a fortune during the boom time and should now work for free.
Can you see a trend? Is there not a sameness with many of the posters? It is all about deflecting responsibility and liability - with the matter and with the costs. I call it the "it wasn't me, the man made me do it" syndrome.
I cannot say what other firms do. I can tell you though that, when I do have disputes with clients about fees, there will usually be a blanket denial that costs were ever discussed, followed by an attempt to negotiate down once the signed (by the client) letter is produced.
If we work only on the basis of the posters that post here, it seems to me that many of them are first timers or infrequent posters, appear to be quite naive and generally do not post the full story straight off - so you're left trying to speculate.
I accept that there are bad apples in every profession. I fully accept that double charging is wrong. But I equally have an issue with the cases we mostly hear about where that happened - the Army Deafness cases being an example. Which came first? The ambulance chasing solicitor or the "I didn't know 'til you told me that I was "deaf Plaintiff.
mf