https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/solicitors-clerks-the-unqualified-fee-4/
https://www.slab.org.uk/guidance/solicitors-clerks-the-unqualified-fee-4/
| Advice & Assistance | Not applicable | |
| ABWOR |
|
Not applicable |
| Legal Aid |
Schedule 1
|
2(b) |
This fee is payable for each quarter hour where there is no other fee prescribed in the respective Tables of Fees when you delegate appropriate work to an unqualified person.
It is only possible to pay for work done by a fee earner.
The most obvious fee-earners are solicitors and counsel.
The classification of fee earner does not so much depend on the individual’s status or qualifications but the actual task being undertaken and the competency of the person doing it.
If the task is not that of a fee-earner it is not remunerated under the regulations because it is, correctly, part of the firm’s overheads.
The term “solicitor’s clerk” used in the Tables of Fees is somewhat antiquated and implies the use of a member of staff skilled in certain areas of expertise as distinct from a secretary or receptionist.
We recognise, however, that a modern office does not necessarily conform to this model, with its rigid distinction between fee-earners and non-fee-earners.
Chargeable work appropriately undertaken by a solicitor can be delegated to a person who is not legally qualified, but who is suitably trained and supervised.
Indeed such work may more appropriately be undertaken by an unqualified person in line with a standard of taxation requiring work to be undertaken with due regard to economy.
The fee is sufficiently flexible that it can be applied to any work activity, both at court and elsewhere, that is done that meets the statutory tests of taxation where there is no other prescribed fee.
When assessing work of this nature we will apply the commentary in relation to “non-advocacy” fees.
In assessing an account, we will consider: