Interim Bills

Abedi v Penningtons (a firm) (CA NLJ 31 March p465)

A solicitor’s retainer being an entire contract, the solicitor cannot render interim bills unless these have been agreed with the client, or there is a natural break in protracted litigation. Section 65(2) of The Solicitors Act 1974 enables a solicitor to request payments on account of costs during the course of litigation, whether or not his has been agreed with the client, but such requests, although they may be described as interim bills, are not enforceable against the client, except that failure to pay a reasonable amount on account of costs when requested is a ground for the solicitor terminating the retainer and thereafter delivering a final bill enforceable under the statute. Although in the present case the solicitors did not agree with their client that they could deliver interim bills, and there were no natural breaks in the litigation, the solicitors did in fact deliver bills on a monthly basis, each purporting to be a final bill for the period in question, even though they were for a round figure. The client at first paid regularly but then stopped leaving five bills unpaid and four bills partially paid. Letters from the solicitors resulted in promises to pay, but no payments were made in respect of the outstanding bills or a further seven bills. The client then alleged that she had been overcharged and sought a detailed assessment under the Solicitors Act. She was so long out of time in making her application that if the bills were treated as final bills she was not entitled to have them assessed under the Act. The Court of Appeal upheld the award of summary judgment to the solicitors on the grounds that the possibility of interim bills being payable could arise by virtue of an inferred as well as an express agreement. The client, far from disputing the bills, had paid them regularly and had promised to pay the outstanding bills. The case was distinguished from Re Romer & Haslam [1893] 2 QB 286 in which the court said ‘The solicitors never asked for payment of any of [their bills], but asked for and took payment on account … In none of them is there a demand for payment’.