Navigating Your Legal Invoices: A Step-by-Step Guide to Ensure Fair Billing

When hiring a lawyer in Australia, it is important you understand how to review your legal invoices to avoid being unfairly charged. Legal invoices can be complex and confusing for non-lawyers, so we have prepared this blog post to give you a step-by-step guide on how to thoroughly understand your lawyer’s invoices.

1. Understand your billing method

There are different ways to be billed when it comes to your lawyers’ fees. Some lawyers bill using hourly rates, some work on a no-win, no-fee agreement and some will come to an agreed price with you. This will be clearly stipulated in the costs agreement provided to you at the beginning of your matter. Its important for you to understand how the lawyer calculates their fees so you so that you can clearly determine whether you may have been unfairly charged.

2. Ensure correct hourly rates are charged

If your lawyer is billing you on the hourly rate method, ensure the rate disclosed in your costs agreement matches the rate charged in the lawyer’s invoice. Sometimes, when lawyers are promoted within their firm, their hourly rate may increase, and this could be updated on the invoice without the client knowing. Ensure you’re thoroughly checking through each invoice as it is provided to you to avoid missing an hourly rate update. Lawyers cannot charge rates higher than initially disclosed unless they first update their costs disclosure to inform you of the rate increase.

3. Verify accuracy of each line item of your bill

You will notice when you receive a bill, in most cases, it will take into consideration all work on your matter. This includes emails to and from, reviewing/ drafting documents, conferences/ telephone calls and disbursements. Ensure you are thoroughly checking through your bill to ensure all line items are relevant to your matter only.

4. Check for duplications

Check for duplications in your lawyer’s bills. Oftentimes, we find duplications throughout our clients’ bills. This could include time charged for reading the same correspondence or document once , two solicitors charging time for the attending the same conference or phone call.

5. Ensure accurate disbursements

Disbursement include barrister fees, translator fees, printing/ posting charges, etc. Ensure your lawyer provides evidence of the disbursements charged, especially by sending you invoices provided by the disbursement service provider. Clients occasionally unknowingly duplicate disbursement payments, often due to lawyers sending separate invoices for disbursements (e.g., barrister fees) without clear indication that such fees were already included as a disbursement in the lawyer’s own invoice.

6. Ask for a detailed bill

You can carry out the analysis at points 1 to 5 if there’s enough information in your lawyer’s invoice. If your lawyer provides you a lump sum, or short form, bill and you find the charges confusing, request an itemised, detailed bill to thoroughly review and identify any potential instances of unfair charges.

By following this comprehensive guide on bill review, you'll gain the confidence to question any potential unfair charges by your lawyer.

Law in Check offers expert advice to minimise your legal costs and can represent you in court against your lawyer if needed.