Under Victoria's Legal Profession Act, 2004 the most apparently draconian consequences follow for the slightest non-compliance with any of the elaborate pre-retainer disclosures required to be made by solicitors. Under s. 3.4.17, if the lawyer has not disclosed something required by the relevant bit of the Act to be disclosed:

the client 'need not pay [...]

[Read more →]

22 July Update: what may be the first ever legal blog, and without doubt one of the best, Overlawyered has  a link to the arbitrator's ruling, and links to some old posts dealing with the interlocutory stages of the case. And here's Law.com's article.
Houston plaintiff lawyer John O'Quinn has been ordered to repay clients $40 [...]

[Read more →]

In the Citigroup Case referred to in the next post, Justice Jacobsen summarised the law relating to fiduciary duties. I have reproduced the whole of the relevant passage, which includes a restatement of the law (at [297]ff) relating to solicitors' fiduciary duties to give prospective clients full disclosure about the disadvantages of time costing if [...]

[Read more →]

The law of unconscionable conduct has been rolled out again as a vehicle to adjust lawyers' fees in the same way as they might be in a civil costs dispute under the Legal Profession Act, 2004, but in a case to which that Act's regime did not apply. It has happened once before to my [...]

[Read more →]

A client sued his former solicitor in VCAT for a declaration that no fees were owing because of costs disclosure defaults by the solicitor. Member Butcher stayed the proceeding pending taxation by the Supreme Court's Taxing Master on the basis that the sending of a cost disclosure statement at the same time as the work [...]

[Read more →]

Courtesy of Justinian, I bring you the story of the overcharging New Jersey lawyer who charged like this:
"With regard to the fee, he purportedly spent entire days, sometimes eight or nine hours per day, for several days in a row, apparently in 'lockdown' — researching, reviewing and negotiating issues that had little or no bearing [...]

[Read more →]

In  Robert J Lawyers v Kirby [2006] VCAT 2609 A client complained about his solicitor's fees. The Legal Services Commissioner was unable to  settle the costs dispute. The solicitor exercised his right to refer the matter to the Legal Practice List of VCAT. Unusual, but sensible, since the Legal Practice Act, 1996 empowers VCAT to [...]

[Read more →]

In Winn v GHB [2006] VSC 476, Winn won, another victory for a pro se litigant against their former solicitors, though it seems this former teacher has recently joined the Queensland bar, which suggests she was at something of an advantage over your average punter in unravelling the arcane intricacies of the Supreme Court's taxing [...]

[Read more →]

In Wilkins's Case [2006] VCAT 2199, Mr Butcher was faced with an application under the Fair Trading Act, 1999 by a client who sought to avoid payment of two accounts in circumstances described in the previous post. The application was brought under the Fair Trading Act, 1999, though which provisions is not clear from the [...]

[Read more →]

The Bar has produced a practice guide. It is a great achievement and stands as a beacon for the Law Institute's future efforts at promulgating knowledge of the practice rules. The Bar actually has something called the Professional Standards Education Committee. Written by Roisin Annesley, it was launched by Victoria Marles, the Legal Services Commissioner [...]

[Read more →]