Engineers overcharged ‘millions’ by solicitors

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