Studying the History of Legal Costs
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CPR Costs Practice Direction 4.16(6) states that:
"Agency charges as between a principal solicitor and his agent will be dealt with on the principle that such charges, where appropriate, form part of the principal solicitor's charges."
Agents’ charges should be charged as part of the solicitor’s fees. (Pre-CPR this could be found at Paragraph 1.18 Practice Direction No. 2 of 1992)
It was incorporated into the Law Society's The Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors 1999 that the solicitor be "personally responsible for paying the proper costs of any professional agent or other person whom he or she instructs on behalf of a client, whether or not the solicitor receives payment from the client, unless the solicitor and the person instructed make an express agreement to the contrary.”
One of the main authorities on solicitors’ agents is Pomeroy -v- Tanner [1897] 1 CH 284.
In respect of Witness Statement Takers and Medico-Legal Agencies (also see below) consider Smith Graham (solicitors) -v- Lord Chancellors Dept and Stringer -v- Copley, May 2002, HHJ Cook, Kingston-Upon-Thames County Court.
