Solicitors must give you the best possible information about what your matter will cost and keep you updated as it changes. If your bill has gone well past the estimate without explanation, you may be able to have it reduced. Our sister service, ComplaintAdvocate, checks legal bills from £99.
Most solicitors bill fairly. But when something has gone wrong, it usually shows up in one of these ways.
Every firm must have a complaints procedure. It normally has up to 8 weeks to respond.
Free and independent. It can order a fee reduction, refund or compensation. Normally complain within one year of the problem or discovering it, and within six months of the firm’s final response. Eligibility and exceptions apply.
The court can review the bill line by line (Solicitors Act 1974, s.70). Strict time limits generally run from delivery of the bill, with additional limits after payment. Get independent advice promptly.
ProHearings focuses on employment tribunal and hearing representation. Checking legal bills and pursuing complaints about them is specialist complaint work, so it is handled by our sister service, ComplaintAdvocate, which runs regulatory and consumer complaints every day.
ComplaintAdvocate is led by people with experience of how legal regulators and the Legal Ombudsman look at complaints. They will tell you plainly if your bill looks fair, and explain the strengths and limits of any possible complaint.
Send your bill and any estimate or client care letter. You get an assessment of possible grounds to challenge the bill, the sums that may be disputed and the available complaint routes. No reduction is guaranteed.
Yes. Complain to the firm first, then to the Legal Ombudsman if you are not satisfied. In some cases you can ask the court to assess the bill instead. Each route has strict time limits.
Yes. Every solicitor must give clients the best possible information about the likely overall cost, at the start and as the matter progresses. If your tribunal case cost far more than you were told, with no updates along the way, that is exactly what a fee check looks at.
Yes, and you can complain yourself. ComplaintAdvocate charges for checking the bill and preparing a well-evidenced complaint, to help organise your evidence. No outcome is guaranteed.
You can still complain to the firm and the Legal Ombudsman within the time limits. Court assessment becomes much harder once a bill is paid, so get advice quickly.