I need to choose between a lawyer and an advocate. What should I ask about fees and scope?

Key takeaways

• Separate the attorney mandate, counsel brief and any direct-advocate engagement.
• Name one client contact, file owner and deadline owner.
• Compare the same tasks, stages and assumptions rather than headline rates.
• Record VAT treatment, deposits, disbursements, reservation and cancellation terms.
• Prevent repeated consultations, duplicated drafting and unowned procedural work.
• Require approval before scope or team changes create additional cost.
• Verify who invoices, who receives payment and any applicable current Fidelity Fund Certificate.
• Ask for written fee and scope terms as practical protection; do not describe the uncommenced section 35(7)–(12) cost-estimate regime as operative law.

How to use this guide

Do not compare an attorney’s hourly rate with an advocate’s hearing-day rate as if they cover the same work. Include intake, evidence, correspondence, filing, drafting, conferences, preparation, appearance, postponement, follow-up and external expenses. In the ordinary referral model, counsel accepts the brief from the attorney and ordinarily receives fees through the instructing attorney. A qualifying trust-account advocate may accept appropriate direct advocacy instructions subject to the applicable requirements, but direct access does not convert advocacy work into every function properly belonging to an attorney.

1. Identify the instruction model first

The fee structure depends on how the work is instructed. Record which model applies:

If the route is unclear, the quote is not ready to compare. Ask who accepts the mandate, who owns the file, who gives instructions to counsel and whether an attorney remains necessary for work properly belonging to an attorney.

The attorney-versus-advocate overview explains the regulated categories and instruction routes.

2. Ask for separate deliverables

For the attorney or firm, identify whether the scope includes:

• client intake and conflict checks;
• fact investigation and chronology;
• correspondence and negotiation;
• evidence, discovery and witness coordination;
• filing, service and procedural management;
• briefing counsel and updating the brief;
• client instructions and settlement authority;
• communication, reporting and implementation; and
• the attorney’s own drafting or appearance.

For the advocate, identify whether the brief includes:

• an initial conference;
• document review up to a stated volume;
• a written opinion;
• drafting or settling identified papers;
• research on a defined issue;
• consultations with the attorney, client, witnesses or experts;
• preparation for a specified hearing;
• appearance for reserved dates; and
• a post-hearing note or follow-up task.

“All litigation work” is too vague where two practices are charging. Each deliverable should have an owner, reviewer, due date and acceptance point.

3. Record exclusions and assumptions

Ask what is not included. Common exclusions may be appeals, urgent applications, interlocutory disputes, extra affidavits, further consultations, added hearing days, travel, experts, correspondents, sheriff costs, transcription, copying or work caused by late or incomplete instructions.

Record the assumptions behind the estimate:

• expected document volume;
• number of parties and witnesses;
• present procedural stage;
• likely hearing length;
• whether facts are substantially disputed;
• whether counsel receives an indexed brief;
• whether experts or correspondents are needed; and
• whether dates are reserved or still provisional.

An estimate based on a one-day hearing is not comparable with one that includes preparation, two hearing days and post-hearing work. Normalize the assumptions before comparing totals.

4. Ask how every fee is calculated

Request the basis for:

• hourly rates by person and role;
• fixed or staged amounts;
• daily or part-day hearing rates;
• marked or brief fees where used;
• consultation and conference charges;
• preparation and reading time;
• travel and waiting time;
• junior, associate, candidate or paralegal work;
• supervision and review; and
• VAT where applicable.

Ask whether an estimate is a cap, a planning range or a current forecast subject to stated assumptions. If it is not a cap, identify review points and the person who must warn you before the forecast materially changes.

The Legal Practice Act’s section 35(7)–(12) written cost-estimate provisions remain excluded from commencement on the official government record pending proclamation. Do not rely on them as an operative statutory promise. Written fee, scope and change-control terms remain sensible client protection and should be assessed with the operative Code of Conduct and engagement terms.

5. Include counsel reservation and hearing risks

Advocate fees may involve reserved preparation or hearing time. Ask what happens if:

• the matter settles before the hearing;
• the hearing is postponed;
• the court starts late;
• the matter runs for extra days;
• the attorney or client provides the brief late;
• another court commitment creates a clash;
• replacement counsel is needed; or
• added drafting or conferences become necessary.

Record the cancellation dates, amounts that become payable at each point, and whether the attorney adds an administrative or handling charge. Do not assume a postponed hearing produces no counsel fee merely because no argument occurred.

6. Build one consolidated cost map

Combine the likely first-phase amounts:

The client should be able to see the total planned first phase even if separate invoices or source records remain necessary. Ask who reconciles the combined view and how often it is updated.

7. Prevent duplication and gaps

Two professionals can improve quality, but they can also repeat the same chronology, research, consultation or draft. Ask:

• Does the attorney prepare the first draft for counsel to settle, or does counsel draft from the brief?
• Who researches the legal issue?
• Which conferences need both people?
• Who prepares witnesses and the bundle?
• Who files, serves and checks the order?
• Who reports advice to the client and implements it?

Each line should have one primary owner. Review by another practitioner should be deliberate and priced, not accidental duplication. Also look for missing work: an advocate’s hearing fee may not include the attorney tasks needed to get the matter ready.

8. Ask for change control

The scope should explain how a new party, amended claim, urgent application, expert issue, postponement, appeal or longer hearing changes the team and budget. Set a practical approval rule, for example:

1. identify the new work and why it is needed;
2. state who will do it;
3. provide the cost or rate and timing effect;
4. obtain written authority before starting, unless a genuinely urgent agreed exception applies; and
5. update the combined task and cost map.

Silence should not become consent to an undefined expansion. Conversely, the client should not assume that new work is covered because it relates to the same dispute.

9. Verify deposits, invoices and payment routes

Ask who issues each invoice, who receives each amount and whether any money or property will be held in trust. In the referral model, the Code says referral counsel ordinarily receives fees through the instructing attorney. In a qualifying direct-instruction model, verify the trust-account advocate’s category and current applicable FFC before paying.

Do not assume every employed attorney requires an individual FFC. Verify the practising person and the relevant practice or principal’s certificate position using the official guidance. Confirm the invoice, account holder and bank details through an independent trusted contact route, especially after any emailed change.

Ask how invoice queries, unused deposits, trust balances, termination and file handover are handled. The LPFF protects against specified theft of entrusted money or property; it is not a general guarantee of performance, negligence or every billing dispute.

Use the practitioner verification guide to reconcile the charging person, practice type and current official record before approving payment.

10. Use a written first-phase scope

Before approving work, record:

• instruction model;
• attorney and advocate identities;
• client contact and file owner;
• first-phase deliverables and exclusions;
• task owners and dates;
• rates, fixed amounts and VAT treatment;
• deposits and external costs;
• counsel reservation and cancellation terms;
• change-approval process;
• invoice and payment route; and
• the review point for the next stage.

The mandate and scope guide provides more detail on written engagement controls. This page owns the attorney-and-advocate combined cost map.

Use the questions-before-booking guide when the immediate need is to confirm who will attend and what the first paid step includes before comparing a longer combined mandate.

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