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In its February update the SRA has confirmed a change to rule 2.05 of the Solicitor’s Code of Conduct 2007.
The change, which will come into force on 1 March 2010, has been made following the repeal of the Solictor’s (Non-Contenious Business) Remuneration Order 1994, which removed the remuneration certificate procedure and clients’ statutory rights to information about challenging a bill.
The additions to Rule 2.05 will mean that, as well as the usual complaints handling notices that must be given, new clients will have to be informed at the outset and in writing that:
- They are entitled to complain about their bill
- There may also be a right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Complaints Service, and/or by applying to the Court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974
- If all or part of the bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.
As is currently the case, if a firm can demonstrate that it was inappropriate in the circumstances to meet some or all of these requirements, then they will not breach rule 2.05.
The changes replace the August 2009 Emergency Rule 2.08 which was introduced in a hurry when it was suddenly realised that the Solictor’s (Non-Contenious Business) Remuneration Order 1994 had been repealed without provisions to replace it. The Emergency Rule therefore preserved clients’ and third parties’ rights to information (about Court assessment of non-contentious bills and interest charges), until the 1st March 2010. In the meantime, firms should remove all reference to remuneration certificates (in time for the 1 st March changeover) from:
- Their bills
- Their client care literature, and
- Other stationary
The changes to rule 2 are accompanied by a new guidance note (49B), which says:
In some circumstances it will be appropriate for your firm to remind the client at a later stage whom they should approach under the firm’s complaints handling procedure if they want to complain about the bill (or for your firm to inform the client of this at a later stage if the client has not been told at the outset). This will be appropriate if:
- the client is particularly vulnerable;
- the client is a private client and you are delivering a bill more than two years after the original information was given;
- you are taking your costs from money held on client account, and have not previously supplied the information; or
- you are suing on the bill, and have not previously supplied the information.
Where you or your firm are, in effect, the client – for example, as the executors administering a deceased’s estate or as the trustees of a trust – you should consider whether information on complaining about a bill should be given to any person likely to be affected by the bill.
Click here to view the SRA Update in full. |
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