7 Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Service And Representation) Order 2023

Paragraph 7 of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Service And Representation) Order 2023 is about Legal practitioner to issue terms of engagement in writing. It provides as follows:

(1) A legal practitioner shall, before commencing work on any business or service, and not later than 14 days from the date of receipt of the instruction, issue written terms of engagement to his client, setting out the scope of work and fees.

(2) Where a legal practitioner is under a specific retainer, such retainer agreement shall suffice as the written terms of engagement covering the specific instruction.

(3) Where the legal practitioner is under a general retainer or it is agreed between the client and the legal practitioner, it shall be sufficient for the purpose of ascertaining the work carried out by the legal practitioner and the fees chargeable thereon, to consider the documents, processes prepared or verifiable
steps taken by the legal practitioner in the discharge of the assignment.

(4) Where-
(a) a legal practitioner performs any work outside the stated scope of work;
(b) the fees for the business or service becomes greater than what is
mentioned in the terms of engagement; or
(c) the fees for the business or service becomes ascertainable, the legal practitioner may issue another terms of engagement to cover the new facts.

(5) In the event that a legal practitioner fails to issue a written engagement
letter or terms of engagement to a client, and a dispute subsequently arises between the legal practitioner and the client regarding the fees payable for the services rendered, the provision contained in the scale specified in this Order shall apply to the transaction in question.

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