In a long-wnded way, I tentatively suggest that, so long as the applicant has the sense to invoke s. 108 of the Fair Trading Act, 1999, then penalty interest is available under the Supreme Court Act, 1986, just like in the Supreme Court, so long as the dispute is a consumer-trader dispute. That is, a [...]

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In Nicholson v B&S [2000] VLPT 28, the Legal Profession Tribunal's Registrar Howell, considered three questions about the burden of proof:

Where there is a dispute about the amount of legal costs, must the client prove that the costs were too great, or must the lawyer prove that the costs were just right?
Where there is an [...]

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I was drinking beer at The Peacock the other afternoon, and a VCAT member was muttering about the Supreme Court overturning VCAT decisions on the basis that applications for adjournment were not granted when they could have been cured by an order for costs. The suggestion was that the Court may have overlooked the [...]

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In the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner's 2006-2007 annual report, she makes the following points about withdrawing complaints under the Legal Profession Act, 2004:

civil complaints and disciplinary complaints alike may be withdrawn;
if a civil complaint which is characterised as a costs dispute is withdrawn, any costs paid into trust at the outset must be paid to [...]

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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 [...]

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Victoria Marles's office has produced two new brochures, available from Information Victoria:

'Are you making a complaint about legal costs? The LSC is required to make reasonable efforts to resolve costs disputes between legal practitioners and their clients. The brochure includes information on the maximum amount of costs which may be considered ($25,000); time limits for [...]

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Senior Member Howell determined today in M v JC Lawyers [2007] VCAT 273 that VCAT had jurisdiction to entertain a costs dispute about solicitor-client fees of post-proceedings negotiations under the threat of mutual applications to reopen under the change of circumstances provisions the final orders of the Family Court made 9 years previously.

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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