A hearing of a dispute about a London law firm’s unpaid fees had to be adjourned on its second day following difficulties over access to documents.  

Mayfair-based BlackLion Law LLP billed businessman Simon Lyons £750 an hour to act as general counsel with regard to two matters, costs judge Master Brown heard. 

The hearing follows a county court judgment from earlier this year about an unpaid invoice of around £140,000. Following a £6,000 payment and the deduction of a commission, the disputed sum is now just under £120,000. The county court judge concluded that ‘line-by-line detailed assessment of the costs – the work done and the amount charged’ would be necessary.

The costs judge heard that BlackLion partner Negar Yazdani and Lyons had agreed that total legal fees would be likely not to exceed £100,000. The hearing, which was held remotely, was told that Yazdani told Lyons she was ‘too expensive for the work required' and the overall bill included charges of £25,000 plus VAT for emails received and £20,000 related to emails where BlackLion was copied in.

The judge said: ‘There is a big question about the terms of retainer…charging for incoming emails at the full unit of six minutes is unusual. If the retainer said you can charge for it, it might be an assumption of unreasonableness.’ He added: ‘With someone with an hourly rate of over £700, that is higher than the rate that could be recoverable by someone conducting multi-million-pound litigation.’

Discussing one of a number of disputed emails, Brown said: ‘At the moment, I am not struck with the difficulty of these points [in the emails]…£750 an hour and it is not immediately clear any matter of great complication. I need to get a feel for the number of documents that needed to be looked at and the difficulty of issues that arise.

‘Three hours is quite a long time to spend on something. The time appears to be excessive.’

Keith Bintley, for Lyons, added: ‘The headline rate is extremely high, £750 is double the guideline. Three hours of emails, we think this is an usual expense which is not addressed in the terms and conditions [of the BlackLion contract].’

Shirley Dean, for BlackLion, said: ‘Miss Yazdani is entitled to get documents and consider them. She is being asked to advise on an overall strategy. [Ms Yazdani] told [Lyon] at that first meeting she was too expensive for the work he wanted her to do, and he agreed [to the work]. I accept that does not give her carte blanche to spend more than a reasonable amount on it. but it is recorded time recorded by an experienced solicitor.’

Brown allowed 54 minutes at the hourly rate for the incoming emails that had been billed at three hours.

Some disputed points were conceded by Bintley while Brown allowed some of BlackLion’s points – including time invoiced for meetings, phone calls and emails, and reassessed the time spent on others.

However after several adjournments for parties to identify the necessary documentation, the costs hearing came to a halt soon after lunch on the second scheduled day. Richard Slade, for BlackLion Law, told the judge: 'Things seem to have gone awry.' A member of BlackLion's legal team was 'in no fit state to continue', he said. 'We ought to, with respect, stop at this point and find a moment to resume.'

Bintley agreed that difficulties with access to documents 'have become incredibly apparent'. 

The judge apologised for any appearance of impatience. 'When I have expressed frustration, it is [in relation] to access to documents,' he said.

The hearing was adjourned until February 2023.