Conduct and service

Overcharging can be taking advantageThe Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) still receives complaints in which the solicitors have not given the client any costs information.

How often these circumstances prompt a complaint can only be a matter for conjecture, but what is known is that when this failure features in a complaint, other, more serious concerns are often discovered.This was the case with a complaint to the OSS by a lay executor against a solicitor co-executor.

The lay executor's main concern was the level of fees charged for the administration of what he considered a relatively small and straightforward estate, consisting of a few bank and building society accounts.

The executor was told the OSS could not enquire into the level of fees charged and he should request a remuneration certificate, which he did.However, during the initial correspondence about the complaint it had transpired that the solicitor had failed to give the lay executor any information about how he intended to charge or what the basis of charge would be.

Not only that, but when the lay executor, before approaching the OSS, had lodged a formal complaint with the solicitor, about the time taken to administer the estate as well as costs, the solicitor took two months to answer and when he did reply, he failed to address the concerns raised.What happened next was in many ways even more serious.

The remuneration certificate appeals committee reduced the profit element of the solicitor's bill by some 85%.

Reduction of a solicitor's bill by more than 50%, whether on assessment or by a remuneration certificate, is taken as prima facie evidence of overcharging.

This inevitably led to the referral of the matter as a conduct issue.

In such cases the matter is referred to the panel to decide whether there has been a breach of principle 14.13.

In this case, the appeals committee decided to order a compensatory payment to the complainant in respect of the solicitor's inadequacies of service (in addition to the fee reduction), and also to refer the solicitor's poor conduct to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.l Every case before the adjudication panel is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents.