Detail in solicitor’s bill

Ralph Hume Garry v Gwillim CA TLR 4 November

To establish that a bill was not in bona fide compliance with the Solicitors Act 1974, a client must establish that: (i) it contained no sufficient narrative to identify what he was being charged for; and (ii) he did not have sufficient knowledge from documents in his possession or from information supplied to him to take advice about challenging the bill. The more the client knew, the less need for the bill to spell it out. The purpose of the legislation was to protect the innocent or ignorant client and not to give the unscrupulous a wholly unmeritorious advantage over his solicitor. These ‘unseemly disputes’ could be avoided if the bill were accompanied by a computer print-out showing the time spent, with the rate charged and some description of the work done.