The Gazette 1984

SEPTEMBER 1984

GAZETTE

factor. It is, however, really an attempt to standardise fees which I think is of doubtful validity. The h factor or the supplementary factor is arrived at by taking into account such matters as the importance of the matter to the client, the amount or value of any money or property involved, the complexity of the matter or the difficulty or novelty of the question raised, the skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved, etc., insofar as these have not already been taken into account in the time cost. You will recognise these as being the factors along with time which are to be taken into account in fixing a fee 'according to circum- stances', and in this connection I would refer you to paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Law Society's General Table of Fees. You may decide that these other factors can best be reflected by a mark-up on the adjusted time cost — for example, by adding, say, 50 per cent or 125 per cent. Or you may decide that these can best be reflected by adding to the adjusted time cost a figure geared to the value of the property involved — for example, the table suggests 0.5 per cent of the price up to £250,000 and regressively thereafter. I am inclined to think that the limit of £250,000 may be rather low for some matters, but this is a personal judgment reflecting my own experience. The final decision as to the fee is one of judgment and this will probably take into account such matters as what the market will bear. I would, however, suggest that if your costs are such that the market cannot bear them you should look very seriously at your costs and how you carry on your operations. In other words, when you have fixed your fee see how it relates to the time cost and consider whether there are any lessons to be learned about your practice or how it is operated. Before I finish I would like to consider how one provides an estimate of fees for a matter when there are no scale fees and you are using a time costing system which appears to be geared to historical records. The answer must be your own experience of the time the matter might be expected to take. First of all it is important to find out exacely what you are being asked to quote for — is it the purchase of a house on a well-known builder's estate or the ground floor of a detached villa which is being divided; is it a simple undefended divorce or a complex reparation case? Each firm, however, will have its own time cost figures and you will have to prepare your own guidelines from your records of how long certain types of transactions or cases take, who in the office does what parts of the job and what return you want to get or can get. You may find that the purchase of a new house on a well-known estate including missives takes about three hours — half the work being done by a partner and half by an assistant and so estimate the time cost to be £102. If the value is £30,000 you might quote a fee of £250 — or you might hedge your bets and quote a range between, say, £250 and £300 in case there are some unexpected problems. On the other hand, a sale of a property being divided up in a registration county may well involve much more time and more of the time would probably be partner time with a higher time cost. You will build up your sets of tables which will be amended as costs change and which will of course reflect what the market will bear. The example 1 have given is in the field of residential conveyancing but once you have established your time recording and costing system you will have records of the

time cost of a variety of matters which can be the basis for an estimate of any fee. You might alternatively simply agree a rate per hour which you would charge your client. I hope what I have written will not have disappointed you too much — it will of course depend on what you were expecting. If you thought time costing was a new way of fixing lees you may have been disappointed. If you expected to have what seemed a complex subject revealed in all its simplicity you may have been disappointed. If, however, you were just curious perhaps you have not been too disappointed. I have tried to explain that time costing is all about a new philosophy in the way we organise our businesses to provide our professional services at a price which we and our clients can afford. At least I hope you have found some of what I have said interesting. • Wh y is our manager's door always open?

ANSWER: We could try to be funny and say it was to let the bank drafts in. But the truth is it's just the way we operate. Personal, attentive service at all times. Total access to the manager. Longer hours than most banks. And higher interest on deposits. They may sound like small things. But when you add up the little things we do and most banks don't, you'll understand why our

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