Potential cost of civil cases

Civil Law Costs

“What is the difference between a lawyer and a Buffalo?”

“A lawyer charges more.”

A giant misconception about legal issues is that they cost a fortune in lawyer’s fees to resolve. I am happy to announce that this is not always the case. The size of your bill generally depends on the size of the issue at hand.

What influences the costs of your case, or the size of your Bill, is the following;

The level of expertise or seniority of the Attorney hired;
Like a good whiskey the more an Attorney has “aged” the more the Attorney will cost.
The case itself;
The more complicated the case- the more blood, sweat and tears- the greater the cost will be.
Yes, by time spent I do mean all time spent. From phone calls to sitting in a court room, their hourly fee is their hourly fee.

I would love to give a ballpark figure of how much on average civil cases cost; but alas each case is different; and, as I have not been so subtly in stressing, the cost of a case depends on the case itself.

What I can do is tell you that in your first appointment with your Attorney ask for their fee agreement. This fee agreement will tell you:

The Attorneys hourly rate;
What they charge for drafting;
What their travel charges are;
What they charge for correspondence.
Some Attorneys even offer specials, such as the No Win, No Fee deal. This great offer will also be in the fee agreement.

Now in terms of the Legal Practice Act legal tariffs in South Africa are regulated by the Rules Board for Courts. Each year or so the Board amends the tariffs legal practitioners may charge. View the Legal Tariffs as of February 2015.

But also in terms of the Legal Practitioners Act Attorneys or Advocates may agree with a client in writing to charge more or less than the tariffs approved by the Rules Board. This is why it is super-duper (cannot stress this enough) important to ask for the Attorneys fee agreement.

An Attorney should also give you an estimate of how much your case could amount to. This gives you an opportunity to shop around for the best offer. But again, as with whiskey, you often pay for the quality you get.

It is your right to have legal representation. If you cannot afford a legal representative please contact the Law Society of South Africa as you may qualify for Legal Aid or for Pro Bono legal representation.

SOURCES:

Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014;
South Africa (2015) Rules Board for Courts of Law Act, 1985(Act No. 107 of 1985): Amendment of the Rules Regulating the Conduct of Proceedings of the Several Provincial & Local Divisions of the High Court of South Africa (Proclamation No. R. 30, 2015) Government Gazette No.38399, 23 January 2015 (Regulation Gazette No. 10349).
Law Society of South Africa; www.lssra.co.za