Dick Jennings’ comments (see [2009] Gazette, 10 December, 11) supporting hourly fee charging miss two fundamental truths.

The first is that it is only lawyers who are paid more if the work takes longer than expected. In the rest of the business world, you have to pay more to have the work done quickly.

The second is that lawyers are uniquely placed to predict how much time a particular transaction or piece of work is going to take because, unlike their clients, they have the experience of doing similar work on a regular basis.

Lawyers cannot have it both ways – either the lawyers are experts who know what they are doing and know from doing similar deals day-in, day-out the time it will take, or they don't know what they are doing – in which case they shouldn't be doing the work in the first place.

Christopher Digby-Bell, General counsel, Palmer Capital Partners, London