Time for payment claim

According to the APIL Newsletter for October, the solicitor (Stephen Irving) wrote to his publicly funded client requesting him to contact him in 14 days. Six months later, the solicitor requested the client to contact him within the next four weeks. He heard nothing, closed his file and submitted a request for discharge of the certificate and a claim for payment. The Legal Services Commission rejected the claim on the grounds that it was out of time, on the view that the retainer had been terminated 14 days after the first letter. The solicitor’s appeal was allowed by the Costs Appeal Committee on the grounds that the original letter was intended to spur the client into making contact and was not a termination of the retainer. In publicly funded cases, the retainer is not usually considered terminated until the certificate is discharged. The appeal resulted in the publication of a new point of principle as follows.