How transparent is your firm’s approach to legal costs?
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How transparent is your firm’s approach to legal costs?
More importantly, can you demonstrate that your clients genuinely understand how their legal fees and success fees are calculated?
These important questions are explored at the roundtable hosted by The Legal Lexi® in May 2026, where Victoria Morrison Hughes, founder of The Legal Lexi® was joined by Mark Carlisle of Check My Legal Fees, Simon Williams from the Legal Ombudsman, and Legal Futures editor Neil Rose. Together, they examined one of the most significant challenges facing modern law firms: achieving genuine, informed consent when discussing legal costs and Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs).
Why Legal Cost Transparency Matters
The discussion highlights the simple but often overlooked principle: costs belong to the client. Whatever the matter or retainer type this principle is often forgotten making transparency around legal costs a professional obligation, not just good customer service as to deduct your fees without your client’s genuine informed consent you are taking your client’s money without permission.
As the panel explains, further reforms to Conditional Fee Agreements shifted responsibility for success fees onto clients. Yet many firms rely on standard terms and conditions which mean that many clients do not fully understand how success fees are calculated or why a particular percentage has been applied or that they are responsible for paying it out of their damages.
The Risks of Poor Client Understanding
A recurring theme throughout the conversation is that many complaints arise not because firms deliberately mislead clients, but because clients never truly understood what they had agreed to in the first place.
The panel discusses concerns that some firms routinely charge the maximum permitted success fee while also recovering additional shortfalls from damages, significantly reducing the compensation clients receive. While these deductions may be contractually permissible, informed consent requires clients to understand what they are agreeing to and why.
From Compliance to Demonstrable Understanding
One of the strongest messages from the discussion is that simply providing client care documents is no longer enough. Firms may believe they have explained costs, but unless they can demonstrate client understanding, they remain vulnerable to disputes over legal fees and informed consent.
This is where The Legal Lexi® offers a different approach.
Rather than relying solely on signed documents, The Legal Lexi® helps law firms to evidence their clients understood of key information about legal costs, their retainer and success fees before they proceed. It transforms informed consent from an assumption into a measurable, auditable process that supports compliance, improves client experience and strengthens consumer protection.
Watch the Roundtable and Discover The Legal Lexi®
If your firm is reviewing its approach to legal cost transparency, Conditional Fee Agreements, success fees or client communication, this roundtable provides valuable insights from experts working at the forefront of legal costs, regulation and consumer protection.
Click here to watch the full discussion to hear the panel’s perspectives on the future of informed consent in legal services.
Request a personalised demonstration today and see how The Legal Lexi is helping firms move beyond signatures to demonstrable informed consent.
Still unsure?
Schedule a live demo via Teams and see in less than 30 minutes how The Legal Lexi can easily fit into your firm’s workflows to give you confidence that you have your clients’ informed consent and protect your entitlement to costs.
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