1. During your initial discussion of the transaction your lawyer will discuss the various elements of work needed to be undertaken to carry out and complete your matter. If you are seeking more than one estimate or fixed price quotation, make sure you are comparing ‘like for like’ services on both quality and price, as any additional services that may be required but not covered in an initial estimate or fixed price quote will inevitably be added at a later point.
  2. Provide a clear written summary of as many details of the matter as you can at the outset wherever possible. If you are not able to provide any written instructions yourself, check the engagement letter sent to you by the lawyer carefully, to ensure that you understand the scope of the work to be carried out.
  3. If your lawyer needs you to provide additional information during the course of the matter, try to deal with everything that has been requested as quickly as you can. If any information is ‘to follow’ later, try to ensure that it does follow as soon as possible, as trickles of information and any follow up reminders can add additional time and expense to the process.
  4. If you plan to be away for a period while a transaction is ongoing, let your lawyer know well in advance, so that if there are documents that need to be signed, these can be prepared in advance to take account of your absence, or arrangements made for authority to be given for the lawyer or somebody else to execute any documents on your behalf, if necessary.
  5. If you are a party to a matter and you comprise of more than one person, consider appointing one individual as the lead contact with authority to instruct the lawyer and/or receive the initial advice and to co-ordinate contact.Instructions and contact by multiple people forming one party on the same matter can sometimes lead to an increase in the cost, especially if there is a risk of ambiguity or confusion or repetition occurring.
  6. For most transactions, items of ‘communication’ in and out will be recorded by your lawyer.Communication can include telephone calls, meetings or face to face conversations, emails, and letters to and from you or the other side, and also to or from any other relevant people involved in progression of your matter.
  7. When you need to contact your lawyer, consider emailing where possible rather than telephoning. When you email, your lawyer will automatically receive your message in writing, but when you telephone, the lawyer will usually record the time taken to receive the call and the time to make a written note of the discussion, and any other consequential time in speaking or writing to other people.
  8. Bear in mind that your lawyer will have based your initial fees estimate on certain assumptions, based on the information you provided, and their experience of dealing with similar matters of similar levels of complexity. These assumptions will normally be listed in the initial engagement letter sent with the formal estimate. If any of these assumptions are incorrect, please let your lawyer know of any inaccuracies or change in circumstances as soon possible.
  9. If it does becomes necessary, wherever possible your lawyer should provide you with a revised fees estimate before the level of the initial estimate has been reached or if it becomes apparent during the course of dealing with the matter that additional work will be required. If you are concerned about costs exceeding the initial fees estimate or quote, you can ask for more regular costs updates, if you would find this helpful.
  10. While many matters do progress in a straightforward manner in line with the terms of the initial engagement, if the scope of the instructions or nature of the matter changes, or if the matter becomes protracted involving extended time to be spent progressing it, the additional time taken (or a possible reduction in time, if the matter does not proceed to the expected conclusion) will usually be calculated on a pro rata basis, using the hourly rates for the lawyers working on the matter as set out in the initial engagement letter.