QLD Questions Over Legal Fees

[R3J3]

We engaged a lawyer to terminate a commercial contract in 2017, asked for an estimate of the cost to terminate the contract rightfully and he quoted 20K and another 20K in barristers fees. We told him we have financial difficulty in paying legal fees...he offered that we pay him 100/week until we close the case and sell the properties which were tied to the contract. We signed and engaged him for the service with his engagement letter as per our agreement.

The case went into court for a 2 days trial and verdict came the following year. Prior going to court, this lawyer convinced us that by going to court, our chances of winning are very high and that we can have our legal fees covered mostly when we claim for damages....pratically nothing to loose and everything to gain by going forward into court. The verdict came to our favor in that we successfully terminated the contract and got back our properties...but we were left with all the legal fees/3 tier lender interest and penalty rates....in short, our hole got bigger. We couldn't claim for any damages as the party that we sued...just put the company up for insolvency. Our lawyer said it would be pointless to go after that partner as he would just declare bankrupt.

Fast forward, property market is not good in Brisbane and we did not managed to sell our properties. Now the lawyer has claimed that he has waited too long for us to sell and pay his services. In summary, we have paid 90K from the onset up till this point...and all these 90K were for barrister fees and preparation costs for going to court and fillings/applications...etc. He sent us a invoice of 170K and has threated to take further actions if we do not pay him back.

I have asked for a breakdown of his invoices and itemization of the bills.....which his staff just threw a summary from inception till date....saw some of the billing items and would appreciate any advise on the following:

1. How do lawyer charge for attending court?
He billed me 5000 per day based on 10hrs...court starts at 9am...lunch break 1 hr, and finishes at 5pm
How to account for the 10 hrs charges?

2. During our agreement, there was no mentioned about interest rates for our delayed fees...he said he was happy to get paid when we settled at selling our properties. However, i noticed in the bills that he has added a 25% charge over our fees and called it a "Uplifting" charges......is this ethical?

3. What is the best course to try and settle this lawyer's fees? It seems like we have been taken for a spin....we havn't any money to pay him...but will take up a loan just to get him off our back.

Appreciate any advise please!

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

1. A daily rate for appearance work is fairly standard. While the number of actual hours in court is limited, the amount of work done on those days far outstrips those hours. There’s also a factor inbuilt for the loss of time that the lawyer would otherwise be able to work on other matters. A full court day takes full attention, starting well before 9am and (especially if there is a following day) finishing well after 5pm.

2. Uplift fees are legal to a maximum of 25% in Queensland, on conditional costs agreements. In other words, ‘no win, no fee’ agreements. This must be clearly identified in the costs agreement, and either a disclosure of the amount or an explanation of its calculation.

3. There’s not enough information to tell if anything untoward has happened here. Litigation is always a gamble, and your solicitor should have explained to you the range of possible outcomes. Be aware that as long as their costs agreement provides for it, they can also charge interest on outstanding fees.