How Do Advocates Fix Legal Fee In A Case?

Like Doctors, Chartered Accountants, advocates are professionals and possess skill and knowledge in the field of law. The litigant at the time of appointing an advocate in a case, believes that the advocate to be an expert in the field which relates to his case and the advocate will profess his skill with due care keeping the interest of the litigant at utmost priority. It is often assumed that, if the professional charges of an advocate are high, the more competent, the advocate must be and the litigants turn up paying a higher fee for taking services of such advocates.

The advocates charging their client for rendering legal services is unregulated in our country. Though, as per Supreme Court Rules 2013, a lawyer should charge a maximum of Rs.8,000/- per hearing. However, advocates in India charge manifold then what has been stated. This happens as most of the advocates charge their client according to their paying capacity.

As per rules of The Bar Council of India, there are guidelines for charging fees by advocates for rendering their legal services. However, there is no rule or fee structure to fix the fee charges for advocates and hence, the advocates charge their client as per their own fee structure. The advocates also provide probono (without charging any fee) legal services to the litigants and a large section of advocates charge a very nominal legal fee from their clients.

The litigant should consider appointing an advocate who must have knowledge in the field which touches upon the case of the litigant. The litigant must interact with the lawyer and observe, whether the advocate can give adequate time to his case and whether the advocate is easily approachable or not. There should be a clarity in respect to the litigation charges payable by the litigant in his case as it is unpredictable as to how much time will it take for the case to be decided. I believe, that the pleadings (written presentation by a litigant/written objections challenging the claim of the litigant) are the backbone of a case and it is very important that the case is well drafted stating all the facts alongwith documents corroborating the facts stated therein and hence, the advocates knowledge and experience play an important role in getting justice for the litigant.

The above information is to impart awareness and no part of this should be construed as providing legal advice for any purpose.

Vikram Kumar

Advocate