The word ‘Remuneration’ means money paid for work or service. It comprises of basic salary, bonuses, or the economic benefits to the employee.
The Remuneration Certificate is a form that is filled by the client to request a bill from solicitor to record the legal costs charged to his account.
According to the law in the United Kingdom, if the client is dissatisfied with the charges, he may request to have a remuneration certificate. If he finds the costs mentioned in the bill are not fair, he/she can take the matter to the legal body. The final decision concerning charge dispute lies in the hands of legal authority.
Why is the remuneration certificate needed?
Legal services are expensive. Usually, the bills at the end of the process make clients frustrated. Different legal practitioners press charges on an hourly basis. Since the services charged are not transparent, it becomes a cause of the dispute.
The client may feel overcharged for the services he/she didn’t sign up. To overcome all these problems, The UK has passed a law to tackle unwanted issues.
According to the law, If the client is not satisfied by the expense, he can request a detailed accounting from his solicitor. Accurate accounting is under review by an impartial third party.
The process involves the client filling a remuneration form where solicitor mentions the services for which the client has paid.
Then the form is sent to an impartial body and decision about whether the charges are fair or not is done.
For example, In the UK these matters are looked upon by
Legal Complaint Service, and in Ireland by the law society.
When can a client seek a remuneration certificate?
Clients generally have some period during which they have to apply for the form to initiate this process. They may get 30 days from when they get to know about the right to request the certificate from their solicitor. If the client is unaware of this right, he has up to three months to seek the remuneration certificate from his solicitor from the time he received his bill.
The independent agency then may have a look in the matter before it’s taken to court. This review system is generally free and takes several months.
The independent agency will assess whether to reduce the cost of the bill or not. But, it has no authority to increment the charges in bill.
If the client’s case went to the court and if the court reviews the remuneration certificate, then, in that case, the process is not free at
all, and the requested party needs to pay the court fees. The solicitor has the right to charge interest on the outstanding payment. If the client feels to avoid this, then he has the option of paying the bill, but he has to make clear in writing that the fees are subject to the remuneration certificate process. If the client
pays the bill without making this condition clear, there are chances that he may lose the right to request the review.