Report comment

I think this is illustrative of the dangers posed by unbundled work, not to the profession, but to the public. I know nothing of the case beyond what is written here, however I can't help but feel that Ms Minkin may be feeling singularly aggrieved at what she may consider to be an injustice here.

Put yourself in the shoes of a lay client, possessed of reasonable intelligence but unlearned in the law and unfamiliar with procedure. You correctly surmise that you need expert help, and so you approach a solicitor to help you with something technical. You later find that you have a technically sound instrument though which fails to perform the function you had intended. You may well feel let down that this this wasn't brought to your attention, and that no questions were asked in a bid to ascertain your expectation.

Now wind the clock back to the point at which the solicitor is asked to become involved. They say to you, the lay client, 'Yes, I will happily do what you want me to do, but I would also recommend that you pay further costs to me in order that we can first discuss what it is you think you want out of the work you want me to do.' Would that not strike you, the lay client, as opportunist moneygrubbing?