|
|
|
|
|
22/10/2009
 Email to a friend
 Comment on this article
|
A study of 100 legal bills faced by engineering companies since the recession started in June 2008 revealed nearly a quarter of all bills are inflated, according to Manchester based solicitors Ab8.
 It claims some lawyers have being caught charging twice as much as they should be. Ab8 is now urging firms to challenge hefty legal bills.
Marc Yaffe, head of business development at ab8, said: "Engineering companies are vulnerable to inflated legal bills simply because of the chaos in the market over the year.
"Rather than facing the headache of arguing with a law firm, engineers are simply paying up but this apathy is costing them dearly."
It says that many engineers are facing certain types of legal bills for the first time such as employment law invoices following redundancies and contract disputes with importers and exporters.
Yaffe claims: "The finance director of one engineering firm recently received a bill for £29,000 which should have only really been £14,000. We estimate this is typical but most invoices are slipping through the net, being signed off by unwary finance directors and owner managers and as a result have cost engineers millions in unnecessary fees this year alone."
Finance directors are being urged to retain copies of initial quotes and ensure any overcharge is pre-agreed and explained on an invoice with a clear narrative.
Ab8 says firms should follow its six point checklist
1) lawyers underestimating the cost of a piece of work in the first place
2) juniors being charged out at the same rate as partners
3) the same work being charged twice
4) bills being uplifted by the accounts team at law firms
5) pre-agreed fixed fees being breached
6) disproportional time spent on basic tasks
|
|
| |
Author
Justin Cunningham
|
| |
| |
|
| |
This material is protected by Findlay Media copyright 2012.
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.
|
| |
|
|
| |
To comment on news stories or blogs you need to complete our 60 second registration
process. Once completed this then allows you to download any and all white papers,
register for e-zines and access our detailed supplier directory for FREE.
If you are all ready a registered user then enter your e-mail address and login.
You will need to have logged in prior to entering your comments in the boxes provided.
|