Lawyers Fees

[Sheila]

Our lawyer is billing us 15 minutes of his time each time he sends us a one line email. Is this normal?

When I asked him to take no further action he billed me 45 minutes for sending me an email explaining why he thought he should continue!

In contrast 4 years ago the same lawyer didn't charge us at all for emails. We are now afraid to contact him at all even to query the bill.

[Farol]

Lawyers, like any professional, charge for their time and this includes dealing with emails. A one line email might still require them to read other papers, do some research or take some other action so it might well be appropriate to bill 15 minutes for it. Only you can judge how reasonable that is based on the subject of the email. In my experience most decent lawyers, and similar prefessionals, take a balanced view and may aggregate dealing with correspondance over a period of time. However, they have the right to charge for every minute of their time spent on your account. In the UK if you are unhappy with such charges you can ask for your account to be investigated by their professional body but, as most large firms use computerised timekeeping systems, it is pretty easy for them to justify 15 minutes relating to almost any client matter.

At the end of the day it boils down to trust. You need a trusting relationship with your lawyer. if that trust has broken down for any reason then you need to find yourself a new lawyer.

[James Faro]

I can vouch for the above. I had problems with lawyers in the UK and Ireland and they will be brought to heel if you contact the Law Society. They are very good and thorough.

Depending on the services you ask from your lawyer it is best to agree the fees upfront. I am getting some conveyancing done and was quoted £2,200. I accepted but did ask did that include additional queries and extra visits to their offices if need be and they said yes. It is only if there is a severe problem then I may have to incur extra fees.

To spend 45 minutes explaining why he should be continued to be employed it seems a bit perplexing. Depending on the severity of the charge you may have a case for the Law Society or the Portuguese equivalent to investigate and at least they are free!

[Sheila]

Thanks for the replies.
The one line email said nothing was happening so I doubt it took him long. We may complain to the Portuguese law society once we have our building licence. There is always the fear he may have the ear of the Camara.

We did complain to the UK Law Society over some bad advice some years ago and they never replied but no further demand was made for the fees so a good result.

[R.Wethereyet]

Not a good idea to complain about lawyers in Portugal.

http://www.fairtrials.net/press/press-r ... se-lawyer/

[cereza]

Not a good idea to complain about lawyers in Portugal.

http://www.fairtrials.net/press/press-r ... se-lawyer/

Good point. That case was dropped eventually due to too much time having passed but it shows the dangers. I have used that particular lawyer many times and would happily recommend them to anyone which just shows how personal experiences can be so different.

[Sheila]

Thanks for the warning. I think we will just put it down to experience and move on.