Introduction
Fees are the name for the professional charges lawyers seek from clients for providing their services. They reflect the amount necessary to cover overheads and produce a profit. Both of these elements can fluctuate, producing widely different fee rates.
The charging of fees therefore cuts across the duty of loyalty, with the implicit obligation of transparency. It also involves an inherent conflict of interest; the more the lawyer charges the less money the client retains. The amount of money that must be paid, whether it is fair and whether the bill is understood by the client, goes to heart of issues of trust and loyalty and honesty. In most professional relationships, clients are unable to evaluate the amount or type of work that needs to be done.Because client trust depends on fair billing, regulation of charging is a central regulatory issue. In the case of lawyers the position is complicated by the fact that the amount of work required may depend on factors beyond the lawyer’s control, such as the behaviour of other parties. Further, in some situations, costs may be recoverable from the other side, reducing the fee payable by the client. Nevertheless, lawyers generally have an idea of the likely and possible costs and the fees clients may end up paying in different situations. They are better able than clients to balance the result of this calculation against the benefits of any proposed course of action.
1 A Train, The Confessions of Artemas Quibble (New York, Scribners, 1926) at 77.
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- Hare C., Neo D. (eds.). Trade Finance: Technology, Innovation and Documentary Credit. Oxford University Press,2021. — 417 p., 2021
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