The Law Society shares the work that has been going on behind the scenes to provide consumers of legal services with resources around how to work with lawyers. These resources are designed to better support the working relationship between lawyers and clients to facilitate conversations and resolve disputes effectively.
For many people, seeing a lawyer may be a last resort when facing a difficult circumstance or a major life event. Someone may become a consumer of legal services not knowing what to expect, while trying to navigate an unfamiliar legal system. Lawyers provide an invaluable service to clients by working alongside them and offering independent advice as well as expert guidance. However, as with any service industry, difficulties can occasionally arise in the relationship between lawyer and client. These can sometimes result in disputes and ultimately in professional complaints, if not resolved at an early stage. Of the 1,231 complaints received by the Lawyers Complaints Service in the 2023/24 financial year, 295 raised concerns about fees for legal services and 254 about a lawyer’s communication.
An effective way to avoid disputes or difficulties in the client relationship is to ensure that both sides understand and are clear about the working process from the start. To equip consumers to initiate and participate in those initial discussions with their lawyer, the Law Society has refreshed its suite of resources for legal consumers. The purpose of this initiative is to assist consumers to approach a lawyer with a better understanding of what to expect and how to constructively raise and resolve any concerns they may have with their lawyer. These resources are also intended to facilitate conversations and the establishment of strong and workable client relationships for the benefit of lawyers in their day-to-day practice.
This article draws from these consumer resources to highlight some practical considerations that may be effective in reducing disagreements or misunderstandings. Establishing a good working relationship at the start can avoid time and distraction that can result down the track if concerns simmer away. Resolving issues early is ultimately for the benefit of both lawyer and client.
Last year, over 20 per cent of complaints received by the Lawyers Complaints Service included concerns about communication with a lawyer. This included situations where clients felt that they:
A mutual understanding about possible solutions and outcomes, fees and billing, frequency of updates and the process for dealing with concerns can avoid issues later on.
The Law Society’s newly developed consumer resources provide clients with information about what to ask when engaging a lawyer to assure a shared understanding of how the relationship will work. This can also be a useful checklist for lawyers wanting to set expectations and parameters at the start of the engagement and encourage clients to discuss any concerns with them in the first instance.
Lawyers are naturally comfortable navigating contentious issues and disputes. However, when the professional relationship starts to break down this can take time and energy on the lawyer’s part, causing stress and additional pressure. For consumers, even voicing issues with a lawyer can be difficult as they may feel unqualified to raise questions or worry about the impact on their particular matter. The result is that when a relatively small concern isn’t addressed promptly, it can easily evolve into a formal complaint.
Ensuring clients are informed about how to raise concerns and the process for doing this, can stop an issue snowballing into something more difficult to address.
The refreshed consumer resources are tailored to people at different stages of the consumer journey, ranging from choosing a lawyer and preparing for the first appointment to tips on handling a dispute and the implications of changing lawyers. These resources are available on the Law Society's website at lawsociety.org.nz/for-the-public
Fees continue to be one of the most common reasons that a complaint is made to the Lawyers Complaints Service, with nearly 24 per cent of all complaints over the 2023/24 financial year including a concern about fees. A dedicated section on our website now seeks to better support lawyers when communicating about fees and billing and aim to give consumers a basic understanding of how lawyers charge fees, different billing types, what determines ‘fair and reasonable’ and how external factors can affect costs.
The process of tackling disagreements about fees is also explained, alongside answers to some of the most commonly asked questions, such as whether a disputed bill needs to be paid. Consumers are made aware that lawyers are allowed to charge interest on any unpaid bills and stop acting for them.
It’s not unusual for people to delay seeing a lawyer to save money. Because of this, our consumer resources also highlight the importance of getting legal advice promptly to avoid unnecessary costs further down the track.
Language and cultural barriers can considerably increase the complexity of a legal matter, particularly for consumers who may not be fluent English speakers. This can also present challenges for clients wanting to raise concerns or when a disagreement arises with a lawyer. Lawyers can now take advantage of the translated consumer information on the Law Society’s website to help communicate with wider communities or meet the needs of their diverse clientele. Over fifteen webpages are translated into six languages (Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Hindi, Korean and Simplified Chinese).
Our consumer resources are based on the minimum obligations all lawyers have in relation to communicating with and providing key information to clients. The Rules of Conduct and Client Care (Rules) set out the requirement for clear, timely and informative communication. Those obligations are subject to other overriding obligations including to the courts and the justice system.
As set out in the Rules, lawyers providing legal services must:
The purposes of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act include the protection of consumers and to maintain public confidence in the profession. Enhanced consumer education is one way to ensure that clients’ needs are met and that the relationship between client and lawyer is a strong and durable one. In this way, clients and lawyers are supported to focus on the legal issues at the heart of the engagement rather than the distraction of a distressing and time-consuming dispute.
The Law Society’s newly developed information for legal consumers is available at lawsociety.org.nz/for-the-public