This week sees the introduction of a revised Law Society practice rule 15, requiring the provision of clearer information on costs to clients.

Another unwelcome burden for hard pressed practitioners or a useful business aid? Depends on what solicitors make of it.

My background is in small high street firms.

The majority of my clients is made up of private individuals using a solicitor only rarely for such matters as moving home, a will, divorce or a once-in-a-lifetime excursion into the mysterious world of our court system.

At the beginning of my career, like most solicitors, I was awkward about discussing fees.

I avoided it if possible, did the work and then tried to get paid.

Too often I was then unable to charge the full cost because it seemed too much and I did not want an argument.

Over the years, financial necessity and common sense eventually prevailed and I realised that it was foolish to do work if I did not get properly paid.

How to ensure that happened was something I learnt by trial and error.

The new rule 15 should help other practitioners get to the same place without the pain.

Let us start by making it clear what rule 15 does not say.

It does not require you to give clients a fixed quote for work.

It does require solicitors to make it clear the basis on which they will charge -- hourly rate, unit price, fixed price, or whatever.

One American Bar Association publication identified 13 different methods of charging suitable for different situations and types of work.

For the US equivalent of conveyancing, the Americans took great care to stress how a fixed fee was totally unsuitable as the amount of work involved was too unpredictable.

Therefore if a price was quoted it was important to make clear that it covered only the predictable core work common to all such transactions.

Any work over and above that would be charged in addition on a specified hourly rate.

Of course there are occasions when a fixed price is appropriate, for example where the work involved is easy to predict or when the solicitor is instructed to carry out a high enough volume of routine tasks for the doctrine of 'swings and roundabouts' to be statistically valid.

But these are the exceptions rather than the norm.

The message that I hope solicitors will get from rule 15 is that it is time to be business-like.

Before taking on work think about what is involved, what it is likely to cost, what is the best and fairest way of charging for it.

Explain that clearly to the clients and get their informed consent in writing.

What are the advantages? From solicitors' point of view they are obvious.

By agreeing the basis of a fee in advance solicitors will avoid disagreements and complaints at a later stage and know that they will ultimately be able to charge a realistic price.

Where a client cannot afford the likely cost the solicitor has a chance to explore alternatives, other sources of funding, a reduced 'advice only' service, referral to a publicly- or charitably-funded source of help.

Above all avoid doing work for which there will be no payment.

When I do pro bono I want to do so by choice not through mismanagement.

Advantages for the clients? Knowing the cost of a legal task helps them make an informed decision about whether it is worth continuing with the matter.

The more information solicitors provide clients about the nature of the work and the likely cost, the easier it is for all concerned to manage their affairs.

Rule 15 is not about an abstract concept of 'client care'.

It is a basic business principle.

Done properly it is also about 'solicitor care'.