This information applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Solicitors are not the only people who can provide legal advice. Legal help may be available from:-
You may act for yourself in court proceedings or, if you are acting for yourself, you may have a friend or lay representative to assist you in court.
If you need a solicitor, you should choose one who has experience in the appropriate area of law. You can find details of solicitors on the Law Society website at: 
www.solicitors-online.com, or go to the website of Community Legal Advice at: www.communityleagaladvice.org.uk. In Northern Ireland, go to the Northern Ireland Legal Services website at: www.nilsc.org.uk.
A local advice agency such as a law centre or Citizens Advice Bureau, should also be able to recommend local solicitors who are experienced in the appropriate area of law.
If you are at a police station, or have been charged with an offence for which you can be sent to prison, you can obtain free legal advice under the duty solicitors’ scheme. This does not depend on your financial circumstances. In England and Wales, your request will be passed to the Defence Solicitor Call Centre. Alternatively, you can choose your own solicitor and won't have to pay for advice if they have a contract with the Criminal Defence Service (CDS). The Call Centre will contact your solicitor for you.
For more information about what happens if you need legal advice at a police station in England and Wales, see Police powers.
If you are at the magistrates' or youth court, the arrangements for providing the solicitor will vary. In Northern Ireland, Belfast Magistrates' Court is the only magistrates’ court with a duty solicitor's scheme.
For more information about legal aid in criminal cases in England and Wales, see Help with legal costs and in Northern Ireland, see Help with legal costs.
If you need more information about duty solicitors, you should contact a local advice agency, such as a law centre or an experienced adviser at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
When you have chosen your solicitor, you will need to make an appointment. This will usually be within five working days. If the matter is urgent the solicitor should try and arrange an earlier appointment.
You should take all relevant documents to the appointment and it may be helpful to prepare a list of questions for the solicitor in advance.
You should take a form of identification with you to the interview such as a current passport or driving licence. You should check with the solicitor beforehand exactly what documents you need to take to the interview.
A solicitor must comply with certain professional rules and standards laid down by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority. The solicitor must, for example, give you certain information at the first interview. The information should include:
The Law Society produces a useful guide to using a solicitor which you can see on their website at: www.lawsociety.org.uk. The guide is available in Braille, on audio tape and on CD – phone the Law Society on 0870 606 2555.
You should make sure you understand what the solicitor has told you and should not be afraid to ask questions.
During the case the solicitor should keep you regularly informed of progress and costs even if there are no significant developments.
At the beginning of the case, the solicitor must give you information about the likely cost of the case and how the charge is calculated, for example, a fixed fee, an hourly rate or a percentage fee.
In some cases, for example, personal injury cases, you may enter into a conditional fee agreement with the solicitor. These are known as no win, no fee agreements. The solicitor will take on your case on the understanding that if you lose, they will not get paid. However, if you lose the case, you will have to pay the costs of the other side and you will normally be asked to take out insurance to cover this situation. If you win the case, you will have to pay your solicitor a success fee on top of their basic costs.
In England and Wales, for more information about conditional fee agreements, see Claiming compensation for personal injury – no win, no fee agreements, in Legal factsheets.
If you are considering entering into a conditional fee agreement, you must be clear what the terms of the agreement will entail and you should consult an experienced adviser for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
In all cases, the solicitor must discuss how the costs are to be met and whether you are eligible for legal aid. If the solicitor does not do legal aid work, they must still explain the advantages of legal aid services to you if you are eligible, and give you the opportunity of going to a solicitor who does legal aid work.
For information about legal aid in England and Wales, see Help with legal costs and in Northern Ireland, see Help with legal costs.
The solicitor must keep you informed about the costs throughout the case.
If the solicitor is holding your money, it must be kept in a separate deposit account and you maybe entitled to interest.
It is against the law for your solicitor to discriminate against you because of your disability, sex, sexuality, race or religion. In addition, solicitors' professional rules say that a solicitor should not discriminate against you because of your age. You can make a complaint about discrimination by:
For more information about how to make a complaint against a solicitor, see under heading Complaints about solicitors.
You should get your bill within a reasonable time after your solicitor has finished the work they have done for you, and it will be made up of three elements: disbursements, VAT and fees.
Disbursements are the expenses the solicitor has had to pay out on your behalf, for example, fees paid to court and barristers’ fees.
Fees cover the professional services carried out by the solicitor on your behalf. If the work was court work, the fees that the solicitor can charge are subject to court rules. There are no scales that regulate non-court work, but the charges must be fair and reasonable. VAT will be charged on the fees and some disbursements.
If you think the bill is too high, you can:
You can write to the solicitor asking for full details of how some or all of the charges on the bill were worked out. This letter should also include a request for a written reply. Items such as stamp duty for buying a house are fixed amounts and cannot be questioned.
This procedure only applies to work which does not include court work. You can, within one month of receiving the bill, ask the solicitor to obtain a remuneration certificate which approves it or reduces it. There is no charge. You must pay half the bill and VAT and disbursements before applying for a remuneration certificate. Disbursements cannot be questioned. There is a time limit for applying for the remuneration certificate. It is usually one month but may be longer in some circumstances. The solicitor may also agree to waive the time limit. You should check the relevant time limits with the Legal Complaints Service. They have more information about remuneration certificates on their website at: www.legalcomplants.org.uk.
The Law Society of Northern Ireland can advise you about disputing a solicitor’s bill. However, you should first request a meeting with the solicitor and if you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Remuneration Certificate Department of the Law Society of Northern Ireland at:-
The Renumeration Certificate Department
The Law Society of Northern Ireland
Law Society House
90-106 Victoria House
Belfast
BT1 3J2
Tel: 028 9023 1614
Fax: 028 9023 2606
Email: info@lawsoc-ni.org
Website: www.lawsoc-ni.org
This procedure can be used for any work done by a solicitor, including court work, and is known as assessment.
The court can examine the whole bill, and can either approve it or reduce it. If the reduction is more than one-fifth, you will not pay the costs of assessment.
For non-court work, the court which assesses the bill is the High Court in London. Where court work is involved, the bill will be assessed by the court which dealt with the case. If you are getting Legal Aid, your bill may be assessed by the Legal Services Commission.
If you ask for assessment within one month of getting the bill, the court must assess it. Between one month and a year, the court decides whether to agree to assessment of the bill; after a year it is very unusual for the court to agree.
The court cannot agree to assess the bill if it has been paid and more than one year has gone by.
You can ask the court to examine the bill even if you have signed a conditional fee agreement.
If you have problems paying a solicitor's bill, the solicitor might insist on immediate payment. They could also charge interest on bills for non-court work after a month. However, they may agree to let you pay your bill in instalments.
An experienced adviser's help will usually be needed to assess whether you should challenge a solicitor’s bill, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
You may be dissatisfied with your solicitor for a number of reasons, for example, you may have problems with Legal Aid services and/or you may be dissatisfied with the outcome of the case. You cannot complain about these things to your solicitor. However, if you are dissatisfied with the way the case was handled by the solicitor, for example, delays, or losing documents or money, you can complain.
You should first try to resolve the complaint by discussing it with the solicitor. All solicitors' firms must have a written complaints procedure and the firm will tell you who to contact if you have a problem with the solicitor handling the case. The solicitor must give you a copy of the complaints procedure if you ask for it.
If this does not resolve the matter, in England and Wales you should contact the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). The LCS has a telephone help-line which can advise you about whether there are grounds for a complaint and, if so, how to proceed. You will need to contact the LCS within six months of the end of the work done by the solicitors, or within 6 months of finding out that there was a problem.
If you wish to proceed with the complaint, you should fill in a special form available from the LCS. The address is:-
The Legal Complaints Service
Victoria Court
8 Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV32 5AE.
Helpline: 0845 608 6565
Tel: 01926 820082
Fax: 01926 431435
Website: www.legalcomplaints.org.uk
The LCS can provide information in languages other than English. If you let them know your preferred language, they can arrange to talk to you on the phone with an interpreter or they can translate their letters and leaflets into your preferred language.
The LCS will consider the complaint and, if appropriate, may require the solicitor to:
If the solicitor has broken any rules of professional conduct, the LCS may refer your complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. If your solicitor has been negligent, you may be able to take legal action against the solicitor as well as complaining to the LCS. You will need to get legal advice. You may be able to get legal aid for this.
If you are not satisfied with the way that the LCS has handled your complaint, you may also be able to complain to the Legal Services Ombudsman.
For more information, in England, see How to use an ombudsman in England, in Wales, see How to use an ombudsman in Wales or in Northern Ireland, see How to use an ombudsman in Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, the Law Society of Northern Ireland investigates complaints against solicitors. You should give your solicitor the opportunity to deal with your complaint first. To contact the Law Society, write to the Chief Executive at:-
Law Society House
98 Victoria Street
Belfast
BT1 3JZ
Tel: 028 9023 1614
Fax: 028 9023 2606
Email: info@lawsoc-ni.org
Website: www.lawsoc-ni.org
If the Law Society of Northern Ireland upholds your complaint it may order the solicitor to:-
The Law Society cannot order the solicitor to pay you compensation. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint to the Law Society, you can write to the Lay Observer at:-
4th Floor
Brookmount Buildings
42 Fountain Street
Belfast
BT1 5EE
Tel: 028 9024 5028
Fax: 028 9025 1944
For more information about choosing a solicitor and or other legal adviser, go to the Community Legal Advice website at: www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk.
Disclaimer, copyright and privacy policy, Copyright © 2009 Citizens Advice. All rights reserved.
Citizens Advice is an operating name of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.
