The solicitors appealed against refusal of their costs. They had begun to act but withdrawn part way through the case. The costs judge had said that they had been wrong to do so. Though the client’s instructions would be disastrous, they were not improper.
Held: The appeal failed. The costs judge’s decision was correct. The client would not accept the limited basis upon which his appeal could proceed. The solicitor: ‘went to very great lengths to explain the problems that the client faced to him and to persuade him to adopt a stance which was more likely to result in success than failure. But the issue is whether the client’s insistence on doing it his way put Mr Buxton as a solicitor in breach of the rules or principles of conduct, which the cost judge accurately summarised as not to ‘do anything improper’.’
The costs judge had it right: ‘it is more than respect for instructions which is needed; so long as they are proper instructions (however misguided solicitors think them) they should not just respect them they ought to follow them’. The litigator’s back must be broad, and provided that he has given clear advice to a client, if that client wishes to pursue a case which the solicitor honestly believes is going to lose, the client is entitled to instruct him to do so, absent any impropriety or misleading of the court.
Judges:
Mackay J, Master Simons
Citations:
[2008] EWHC 1831 (QB), [2008] 6 Costs LR 948, [2009] CP Rep 4
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Underwood, Son and Piper v Lewis CA 11-May-1894
Solicitors had declined to continue to act for their client before the litigation in which they were acting had been completed. They brought an action for the amount of their bill of costs for work done to date. The trial judge held that a solicitor . .
Cited – Warmingtons v McMurray 1936
The rule that a solicitor conducting litigation for a client has an entire contract and that he must fulfil it before being entitled to payment is part of the general law of contract. Where there is an entire consideration there must be entire . .
Cited by:
Appeal From – Richard Buxton (Solicitors) v Mills-Owens and Another CA 23-Feb-2010
The solicitors felt that the instructions received from their client were to pursue points which neither they nor counsel thought were properly arguable. They withdrew from the case, and now appealed against a refusal of their costs on the basis . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Costs, Legal Professions
Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.277744
