Committee News Release

CJ1 002 2004

Friday 2 July 2004

JUSTICE 1 COMMITTEE WELCOMES LAW SOCIETY MOVE TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY OF LEGAL FEES

The Justice 1 Committee today welcomed the Law Society of Scotland’s decision to make a practice rule requiring solicitors to provide their clients with a letter of engagement which specifies, among other things, the work to be carried out and the fees and outgoings to be charged.

The decision follows on from strong representations made by the Justice 1 Committee pressing for such a rule to be made.

Following receipt of a letter relating to an individual case which highlighted a lack of transparency in relation to legal fees, the Committee decided to look into the matter.

The Committee established that letters of engagement were not sent to clients as a matter of course and it was felt that, for the lay person, it would be very difficult to understand how solicitors’ fees are calculated. Committee members expressed concerns about there being no obligation on solicitors to send, at the beginning of the solicitor-client relationship, a letter of engagement, and agreed to write to the Law Society of Scotland pressing for a change to the rules in this area.

This week the Committee received confirmation from the Law Society that it has agreed to such a change. Pauline McNeill, Convener of the Justice 1 Committee said,

“I am delighted that the Law Society has responded to the Justice 1 Committee’s representations in relation to making letters of engagement obligatory. I hope that legal fees will become more transparent to clients when letters of engagement are provided as a matter of course.

“This move by the Law Society will be wholly welcomed by the Justice 1 Committee. We pressed for change and now that change is being implemented, hopefully to the benefit of solicitors’ clients across Scotland .”

The Committee will continue to monitor this area of the Law Society’s work as part of its forward work programme to ensure that the new practice rule makes a difference to clients.

For further information, the media contact is:

Eric MacLeod : 0131 348 5605
email: eric.macleod@scottish.parliament.uk

For specific committee information, contact:
Alison Walker, Clerk to the Committee: Tel 0131 348 5227
email: alison.walker@scottish.parliament.uk

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