Solicitor & Client Costs Challenges - Protecting Your Fees & Managing Complaints

Introduction

Fee disputes with your own clients are rising sharply and the stakes have never been higher.

The Legal Ombudsman received more than 14,000 new complaints in 2025/26, a 37% increase on the previous year, while the courts continue to deliver hard lessons: bills assessed at nil, success fees disallowed and deductions from damages that leave firms open to challenge for far longer than expected.

At the same time, the regime itself is under review. The Civil Justice Council has proposed a wholesale overhaul of Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 and both the SRA and the Legal Ombudsman are tightening expectations on complaints handling.

This bite-sized webinar focuses on the developments that matter and gives you clear steps to protect your fees, reduce complaints and handle challenges with confidence.

What You Will Learn

This short webinar will cover the following:

• Costs information that stands up to scrutiny: meeting your SRA obligations, and why Perrett v Wolferstans LLP [2026] confirms that fixed recoverable costs do not set the benchmark for fair remuneration between solicitor and client
• Retainer pitfalls: lessons from The Winros Partnership v Global Energy Horizons Corporation [2026], where the Court of Appeal upheld the assessment of a £3.1 million bill at nil following a terminated CFA and Evans v Fletchers Solicitors [2026] on investigating alternative funding before charging a success fee
• Getting billing right: statute bills, interim billing and the practical lessons of Signature Litigation LLP v Ivanishvili
• Deductions from damages: why Oakwood Solicitors Ltd v Menzies requires the client’s agreement to the specific sum before a deduction counts as ‘payment’ under section 70 and how to adapt your billing process
• Handling bill challenges: the section 70 timetable, the one-fifth rule, the continuing importance of Belsner v CAM Legal Services Ltd and negotiation strategies to resolve disputes early
• Complaints and the Legal Ombudsman: record complaint volumes, the Ombudsman’s proposed stage-based case fees and the SRA’s strengthened first-tier complaints requirements
• The future of solicitor and client costs: the Civil Justice Council’s proposals for a principles-based statutory code, routing lower-value disputes to the Legal Ombudsman, abolishing the contentious and non-contentious distinction and replacing informed consent and what you should be doing now