How much should a lawyer charge?

Nothing attracts press attention like a story about fat cat lawyers, whether from the Bar or solicitors. Recently, the Centre for Policy Studies report, 'The Price of Law', stated that 'the hourly rates for a partner at a top London firm' now exceed £1,000. Not surprisingly, this received a lot of press attention.

Most of the markets in which we as lawyers operate are competitive - in some cases, highly competitive. Some, however, are dominated by a single paymaster, such as the Legal Aid Agency. But where this is not the case, there are many options for clients, both in terms of the lawyers to whom they can turn, and in terms of charge-out rates. Certainly, from the Bar's perspective, hourly rates are by no means the norm. Increasingly, the Bar works to estimates, capped fees, or fixed fees. Of course, for the Bar this is not all new - the traditional brief fee for a court appearance is a fixed fee. There are also many law firms in England and Wales, the majority of which charge nowhere
near £1,000.

The competition has probably never been greater. The challenge for us is to recognise that competition can bring opportunities. Clients do also instruct both barristers and solicitors directly. In the domestic market this has been possible for over a decade or so, whereas in relation to international work, the Bar has been able to accept instructions directly for much longer. The recent Law Society publication on the future of legal services recognised the increasing competition between barristers and solicitors, both from the Bar working on direct public access, and from solicitors carrying out the advocacy themselves in some areas.

However, it also acknowledged that direct access by the public to the Bar 'could also allow greater collaboration', including in instances where a 'client has approached the barrister first, and the barrister needs to refer them to a solicitor for some part of their case - hence public access to barristers may well provide a different stream of revenue for solicitors with the work coming from the Bar'. While the vast bulk of the Bar's work continues to be based on instructions from solicitors, several thousand are now qualified to take instructions directly from clients. Many of these direct access barristers are marketing their services to small and medium-sized businesses, including through the Bar Council's Direct Access Portal.

The Bar remains predominantly a referral profession, but direct access is an important element of its work. With this come challenges. One has been ensuring both the client and the barrister are protected in relation to payment of fees. BARCO, the Bar Council's escrow account, provides barristers with a mechanism for offering a safe and secure way for clients to pay for their services. It also protects the client: the barrister doesn't get paid until the client agrees to release the funds. This escrow facility is not restricted to the Bar. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is allowing requests from solicitors to use BARCO on a firm-by-firm basis. We hope to announce in the near future the first SRA-regulated entity signed up to using BARCO.

We are also working together with others to make paying for legal services easier for clients. One of our Bar Council partners, Legal Cost Finance, provides a payment plan option for clients who use barristers' services to spread the cost, which can be a boon for any small business with cash-flow problems dealing with a legal issue.

So, small businesses do, perhaps more than ever, have the ability to access lawyers, solicitors, or barristers, although they may not always know how to do so. That is an area where perhaps both professions need to work to improve the public's knowledge about the options in the market. More challenging, perhaps, are the increases in court fees. In many claims, the court fee now effectively makes a profit to pay for other parts of the court system. A small to medium-sized enterprise, or indeed an individual, who needs to issue proceedings to recover £200,000 would need, generally, to pay a £10,000 court fee upfront. The Bar Council has repeatedly expressed its concerns about the stifling effect this will have on access to justice, most recently to the House of Commons Justice Committee.

So, returning to where I began, how much should a lawyer charge? This question needs to be looked at in the round, against the backdrop of all the risks and relevant considerations to the particular case. There is no simple answer to the question. But I am certain that quick headlines that focus on the top end of the market do not help the debate, and they do not reflect the broad spectrum of the market.

Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC is the chairman of the Bar Council @thebarcouncil www.barcouncil.org.uk