ABS Diary | Approach with care

I have recently been reviewing our client care letters (CCL) which outline clearly our terms of business. Chapter 1 of the SRA Code of Conduct relating to client care, outlines the outcomes you must achieve (O(1.1) to O(1.16)) and we have incorporated these objectives within our engagement letter.

As soon as we have been instructed we send our CCL to our clients to read, comprehend, sign and return a copy. It is often necessary to go through the letter with the client face to face as some clients do not fully understand the content.

There are no hard and fast rules on how you draft your CCL. Chapter 1 of the Code gives a good indication of what it should include. You can also find precedents for CCLs, I used the Lexcel Client Care Toolkit to help design ours. The main thing you need to remember when drafting your client care letter is that it needs to be set out clearly and in terms that your clients (not being solicitors) can understand.

We have a standard letter that is tweaked for the various different areas of work that we do. Your CCL is a very important document and it important to maintain control over it. As managing partner I am the only person allowed to amend or update the client CCL. If you do not have this control in place uniformity and clarity will be lost.
Your CCL should also be reviewed on a regular basis and regular file reviews should ensure that all fee earners are using the most up to date version of it.

The CCL should clearly set out as follows:

1. The nature of the matter, who is responsible for the matter and who their support staff are. We also include the name of the partner who supervises that department and an approximate length of time we would expect the matter to take to deal with.

2. We clearly state our costs, whether this is a fixed fee or an hourly rate and list all known disbursements. If we are using an hourly rate we try to give an estimate of initial fees and in all cases state clearly how we deal with additional costs. We include our details of our payment terms and methods.

3. We explain how we account for client's money and how much we can accept in cash.

4. We explain money laundering and ID requirements.

5. We explain how we store our files and charges if necessary for retrieving and perusing old files.

6. We tell the client who our complaints partner is in the event of a complaint and make it clear that they can complain about their bill. We give a brief overview of our complaints procedure letting them know that they can have a full copy on request and we give the Legal Ombudsman's contact details.

7. We tell them how they can terminate their retainer with us and how we will charge if applicable. We also explain that we could also decide to stop acting for them.

8. We make available details of our professional indemnity insurance.

9. We state that we have an equality and diversity policy which is available on request.