Hi, I had a court appearance recently for a minor motoring offence & the charge was struck out on the day. My solicitor never even had to utter a word in court but still charged me €300!! Is he entitled to do this? To the best of my knowledge, all he did prior to the court appearance was obtain a copy of the charge sheet? He requested the fee before the court appearance and I obliged naturally but do other posters feel this fee is merited or do I have recourse to request a (partial) refund? Thanks.
Solicitor fee but charge struck out
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ubiquitous
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I can see why!
But I suppose he would still need to be paid for his time - travelling there/back, waiting around in court a bit maybe? Tradesmen would charge a call out fee for example even if they didn't have to do anything.
Look, if you want a solicitor to appear for you in Court, you pay. End of story. Solicitor attended Court on your behalf ready to meet the charges, having seen the summons and worked out what to say, if the case had to be met. The charge was struck out - the solicitor was still there.
If you go to the Doctor with a pain in your foot and he tells you your shoe is too tight, do you think you should not have to pay the consultation fee?
mf
If you go to the Doctor with a pain in your foot and he tells you your shoe is too tight, do you think you should not have to pay the consultation fee?
mf
Appears the solicitor has lots of support on Askaboutmoney! Here's the course of events for reference....I placed a call to his office asking for representation which was fielded by his secretary (30 seconds). At her request, I fax through a copy of the charge sheet. Some time later, he calls me back to briefly (5 minutes) discuss the incident. Next time we meet is 1 minute before court convenes (1 minute conversation), 10 seconds of which is usurped by him asking for a €300 fee (paid in cash & no receipt). Later during the course of proceedings, the court clerk reads the charge to which a Garda Inspector replies, charge struck out. Solicitor doesn't even need to stand or utter a word. I leave court, he shakes my hand & wishes my good luck (5 seconds).
If he had to argue my case & then its struck out, I'd think ok, €300, not bad, but €300 for a 5 minutes phonecall & another 1.5 minutes on courtesies??? As far travelling to meet me, my case was about 50th on the list, by which time he had represented at a minimum 20 other clients, so I don't accept that he travelled just to represent me.
To Bronte: I agree, his fee would have been value had he had a role in the strike out.
To MF1: Wrt your doctor example, if he had a part in easing my pain, I'd have no issue paying (albeit feeling stupid that I didn't recognise that the only problem was a tight shoe!)
My original question stands - do posters think this represents good value or is it another example of the rip-off culture that exists among many of the professions in this country?
If he had to argue my case & then its struck out, I'd think ok, €300, not bad, but €300 for a 5 minutes phonecall & another 1.5 minutes on courtesies??? As far travelling to meet me, my case was about 50th on the list, by which time he had represented at a minimum 20 other clients, so I don't accept that he travelled just to represent me.
To Bronte: I agree, his fee would have been value had he had a role in the strike out.
To MF1: Wrt your doctor example, if he had a part in easing my pain, I'd have no issue paying (albeit feeling stupid that I didn't recognise that the only problem was a tight shoe!)
My original question stands - do posters think this represents good value or is it another example of the rip-off culture that exists among many of the professions in this country?
ubiquitous
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No I don't think it represents particularly good value, but you can't really blame "rip-off culture" for the fact that you didn't shop around and/or negotiate an indicative price beforehand. You can only blame yourself for this.
I have to admit that the way you have presented it, it doesn't sound like good value.
But it doesn't matter that the solicitor wasn't making a special trip just for you - the solicitor still had to 'travel' and be absent from his office. If any professionals (engineers, architects etc) have to attend to anything "on site", it will automatically be expensive. Doesn't matter if they actually do very little. Doubt that any professional would offer a reduction or other consideration as they "had to be there anyway"
The other thing is that personally, if I was engaging the service of a solicitor I would determine in advance what any likely costs would be in a number of scenarios. (Not that you want to hear that at this stage)
Do you expect a qualified professional to review, discuss and make himself available for nothing? I think 300 euro was a fair price.
Brendan Burgess
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Hi apple
At what stage did you agree a fee of €300 or did you engage him without discussing the fee?
I have engaged solicitors to collecgt debts. They have a charge depending on what stage it gets to. They do very well when clients just pay up on receipt of the letter from the solicitor. The solicitors lose out when they have to spend a lot of time on a case.
I imagine that this was easy money for the solicitor, but he would have had to work a lot harder if the case was postponed and there were other issues.
Brendan
At what stage did you agree a fee of €300 or did you engage him without discussing the fee?
I have engaged solicitors to collecgt debts. They have a charge depending on what stage it gets to. They do very well when clients just pay up on receipt of the letter from the solicitor. The solicitors lose out when they have to spend a lot of time on a case.
I imagine that this was easy money for the solicitor, but he would have had to work a lot harder if the case was postponed and there were other issues.
Brendan
Not necessarily - some people are just trying to tease out the details after your initial sketchy post.
Is there a possibility that simple by appearing on your behalf this helped secure the strike out or would that necessarily have happened anyway?
We call it the Scale of Client Gratitude. You will generally find it easier to be paid just before Court. At that stage, client is nervous, client wants reassurance of Solicitor there, client happy to hide behind Solicitor, client willing to pay fee. After the event, whichever way it goes, client has a rethink. You know what, I could have done that, he did nothing, I had to do everything myself, he was rubbish, what a rip off, I want my money back.
If I make myself available to a client to represent them in Court, they should pay me. If they do not want me there, they do not have to engage me,and then they don't have to pay me.
I would have no shortage of work if I was willing to work for free.
mf
If I make myself available to a client to represent them in Court, they should pay me. If they do not want me there, they do not have to engage me,and then they don't have to pay me.
I would have no shortage of work if I was willing to work for free.
mf
Based on what was outlined by the original poster, there are two likely possiblities:
1. Solicitor got lucky and made relatively easy money - he still had to do some work for it.
2. It is possible that the strike out was in fact as a result of the solicitor's input. If there was a defect of some sort in the proceedings, it would not be unusual for a solicitor to speak beforehand with the prosecuting garda - a solicitor who is in the District Court all the time (as this one clearly is) would not particularly want to ambush the prosecution and would prefer to give them the opportunity to withdraw a summons without being embarrassed in front of the judge. If this is what actually happened, then the solicitor was clearly worth every cent.
Either way, I don't think the OP can complain.
1. Solicitor got lucky and made relatively easy money - he still had to do some work for it.
2. It is possible that the strike out was in fact as a result of the solicitor's input. If there was a defect of some sort in the proceedings, it would not be unusual for a solicitor to speak beforehand with the prosecuting garda - a solicitor who is in the District Court all the time (as this one clearly is) would not particularly want to ambush the prosecution and would prefer to give them the opportunity to withdraw a summons without being embarrassed in front of the judge. If this is what actually happened, then the solicitor was clearly worth every cent.
Either way, I don't think the OP can complain.
Clubman...I don't think he had any influence on the strike out. In fact he told me in the 1 minute prior to court convening to prepare myself for a small fine & a dismissal. The strike out caught him unaware also.
Brendan...I agree with your sentiments...if he had to work harder, 300 may have been good value. What irks me was that my case quite literally usurped 5-10 minutes of his time.
To answer efm, I don't expect anyone, professional or otherwise to offer their service for little/no compensation, but I do expect that any charge will be commensurate with either the time expended or the result/outcome of their efforts.
Brendan...I agree with your sentiments...if he had to work harder, 300 may have been good value. What irks me was that my case quite literally usurped 5-10 minutes of his time.
To answer efm, I don't expect anyone, professional or otherwise to offer their service for little/no compensation, but I do expect that any charge will be commensurate with either the time expended or the result/outcome of their efforts.
ubiquitous
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As the case, and presumably the fact of his presence in the courtroom defending the OP, is on the public record, it beggars belief that this income would not be recorded & declared in the solicitor's own accounts - though these days you never know...