Delivering a bill, the one-month rule, and interest

The bill is an event, not a document

The Solicitors Act treats the delivery of a bill as the moment several rights begin, which is why it is worth being deliberate about. No action may be brought to recover fees, charges or disbursements until one month after a bill has been delivered — signed by the solicitor, or by one of the partners in the case of a firm — to the person to be charged.

Delivery is defined generously: handed over, sent by post, left at the person's office or place of abode, or enclosed in a signed covering letter that refers to the bill. What is not optional is the signature and the month.

What the bill has to contain

Less than most firms assume, and in one respect more. A bill is sufficient in form if it contains a reasonable statement or description of the services rendered with a lump sum charge for them — a line-by-line breakdown of time is not required by the Act.

Disbursements are treated differently. Those need a detailed statement, not a lump sum. And on an assessment or an action, the court may order further detail of the services if it thinks that proper, so a description thin enough to be uninformative buys nothing.

Interest, and the line most firms miss

A solicitor may charge interest on unpaid fees, charges and disbursements, calculated from a date one month after the bill is delivered. The right exists by statute, so no separate agreement is needed to create it.

Two further points sit alongside it. On an assessment, the assessment officer may disallow interest entirely, or vary the rate, where that seems just in the circumstances — so an unreasonable rate is not simply collected because it was printed. And the Act contemplates a maximum rate being set by regulation, which is a live constraint to check rather than assume.

The practical consequence is that interest is a decision made at billing time, not at collection time. Putting the rate on every bill costs nothing and preserves the option; leaving it off forecloses it.

Assessment: the clock runs both ways

Delivery also starts the assessment timetable, and the two sides do not sit on the same schedule.

• A client may obtain an order for assessment of a delivered bill within one month of its delivery, on requisition, where the retainer is not disputed and there are no special circumstances.
• The solicitor may obtain one after that month has expired, if no assessment order has already been made.
• After a judgment, or after twelve months from delivery, an assessment on the client's application requires special circumstances proved to the court.
• Payment does not close the door: a paid bill may still be referred for assessment where the special circumstances appear to require it.

That last one is worth sitting with. Being paid is not the end of the question, which is a further argument for bills that could be explained comfortably a year later.

The unglamorous version

Sign the bill. State the interest rate on it. Itemise the disbursements. Note the delivery date and how it was delivered, because that date is what every later right is measured from. Then wait the month.