Is the Solicitors Act 1974 still relevant, asks Murray Heining
Since the introduction of the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007) and the extension to persons authorised to provide legal services, I have mulled over the continued relevance of the Solicitors Act 1974 (SA 1974).
Bentine
The recent ruling in Bentine v Bentine [2013] EWHC 3098 (Ch), [2013] All ER (D) 02 (Nov) brought it to mind again. Proudman J had to determine whether costs disallowed for want of retainer should be excluded from the total of invoiced costs for the purposes of the “one-fifth rule” contained in s 70(9) of SA 1974.
This provides that if a solicitor’s bill is reduced by one fifth or more, then the solicitor will bear the costs of the assessment. If the bill is reduced by less than one-fifth or is not reduced, then they are paid by the paying party, unless there are good reasons found to depart from this rule. She ruled that costs disallowed for want of retainer should be excluded for the “one-fifth”
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