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Nonetheless, notwithstanding the relationship among barristers, solicitors and clients,
it is necessary to recognize the commercial reality that (save in exceptional cases
where the solicitor is left to foot the bill) it is the client who pays the barrister's fees.
Accordingly, barristers should be obliged to explain the basis on which their fees are
charged and to provide estimates of future fees (assuming that they remain instructed)
with a view to this information being incorporated into the material provided by the
solicitor to the client. Such information should cover not only traditional briefs and
refreshers but also advisory and drafting work undertaken by barristers. Instructions
to advise, for example, as to whether proceedings should be instituted, may be given
orally and followed by a letter rather than a formal brief. Some documents may be
delivered for perusal, followed by an initial conference and perhaps delivery of further
documents, then legal research, followed by advice in writing or in conference, and, if
warranted, by settling pleadings and so forth. In practice, briefs may not be delivered
for each of these stages in the work. Instead, a fee-note may be sent out by the
barrister when a natural point in the advisory or pre-trial process has been reached. A
client ought to be informed through the solicitor at the outset as to whether, for
instance, the barrister intends to charge for such work on an hourly basis and if so,
what his hourly rate is and the number of hours estimated to be required up to a stated
point in the advisory or litigation process, perhaps agreeing a cap on the fees to be
incurred up to that point. The barrister ought to be obliged promptly to furnish the
solicitor with such information and estimates upon request by the solicitor or the client
and to keep such information and estimates up to date, taking account of any changes.
Which of the abovementioned approaches, or what combination of such approaches,
should be adopted, ought to be determined after consultation with the two branches of
the legal profession.
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