# Letter of engagement with Solicitor fees not explained



## questionforu (19 Sep 2011)

I have a query on solicitors letters of engagement.
If a letter of engagement has not been put in place between myself and my solicitor and there is a bill query as fees were not explained to me prior to her acting for me, does the bill stand?


----------



## hastalavista (19 Sep 2011)

The subject says 





> Letter of engagement with Solicitor fees not explained



and the body of post says this


questionforu said:


> I have a query on solicitors letters of engagement.
> If a letter of engagement has not been put in place between myself and my solicitor and there is a bill query as fees were not explained to me prior to her acting for me, does the bill stand?



So is there a LOE in place or not?

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1994/en/act/pub/0027/sec0068.html might help


----------



## questionforu (19 Sep 2011)

There was no letter of engagement presented for me to sign.

Is there a legal requirement to have a LOE in place.


----------



## staff (19 Sep 2011)

You do not have to sign a letter of engagement or a Section 68 letter as it is normally called.  If they sent you one outlining the costs and you did not question it at the time of issue then it is taken that you have accepted the terms of this letter.   Did you receive a letter of this nature?


----------



## questionforu (19 Sep 2011)

Can a solicitor act on my behalf (the client) if there is no contract in place between the solicitor and the client?


----------



## staff (19 Sep 2011)

questionforu said:


> Can a solicitor act on my behalf (the client) if there is no contract in place between the solicitor and the client?


 
Did you give instructions to the solicitor? Did you a receive a Section 68 letter from the solicitor outlining either the exact fee involved or on what basis their fees will be charged? 

Any contract you sign will be between yourself and the other party in the relevant deal (not the solicitor) e.g. a contract to buy or sell a property.


----------



## questionforu (22 Sep 2011)

Can i query the bill by asking for proof they sent me either a section 68 or a LOE. I don't every remember getting it


----------



## staff (22 Sep 2011)

This is just an example of what a Section 68 letter would look like - If you dont think you ever received one then I would definitely question whether or not you did get one and what the details of it are (or ask them to send you a copy of the one they issued). If they never issued one to you then you do have grounds to question the fees / costs involved. 


Dear , 

Thank you for your instructions and I confirm that I will be pleased to act on your behalf. A brief description of the services that you require is set out in the Schedule below. 

Under the provisions of Section 68 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act, 1994 I am obliged to inform you of the basis on which we charge fees for our services.

*EITHER*

Our charges are calculated by reference to the time spent working on your matter, the seniority of the individual(s) working on it for you and the nature of the work concerned. The level of charge will also be determined by the following factors:-

a) the complexity of the matter;
b) the urgency of the matter *and the speed of action required*;
c) the difficulty or the novelty of the questions raised;
d) the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved;
e) the number and importance of the documents prepared or examined;
f) the amount or value of any transaction involved;
g) the importance of the matter to you;
h) the time reasonably spent by personnel in the firm on the matter; 
i) the place or places and the circumstances in which the matter is pursued.

In relation to (h) above, our current charges per hour range from €___ for the Managing Partner to €____ for Apprentices. I propose that this matter should be handled primarily by myself in respect of whom there is an hourly charge of *€____.*

*OR *
*The fee chargeable in this instance is € . In the event that it should become apparent during the course of the transaction that through no fault of ours the transaction is considerably more onerous and/or time-consuming than is typical for cases of this nature we may have to charge more than the amount specified above. I will of course notify you in the event of these circumstances arising.*

The professional fee, certain outlays and miscellaneous charges attract Value Added Tax at the rate of 21% which will be charged on the issuing of invoice(s). Invoices may be issued by us on an interim basis. Your continued instructions to us will constitute your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.

If you have any queries in relation to these matters, I will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely,


----------



## onq (22 Sep 2011)

Informative letter and thanks for posting it.

Could I ask is this line ethical?

*"**g) **the importance of the matter to you;"*

What justifies the additional cost there per se?

Is this not covered in several of the other terms?

ONQ.


----------



## staff (22 Sep 2011)

onq said:


> Informative letter and thanks for posting it.
> 
> Could I ask is this line ethical?
> 
> ...


 
TBH I would have taken that as meaning the urgency of the matter but that is already covered.  I never really picked up on it before and this is taken from an oldish standard letter (not drafted by me) that is adjusted for each individual case.  So sorry - I have no answer for you there......


----------



## onq (22 Sep 2011)

My apologies too, I didn't mean to be picky OR to make the text that big 

I had some problems following on the quoted text.

You can interpret the section several ways.

Given your comments I take it to mean that if you have a demanding client for whom the matter is mission critical this means it gets dealt with as a "drop everything and do it NOW!" kind of project as opposed to merely "prioritized"...


----------

