The first step is discuss the bill with your lawyer. Your lawyer or someone in your lawyer's office can tell you exactly what your lawyer did in your case and how long it took. If you tell the lawyer why you feel the bill is too high, your lawyer may be willing to reduce the account. It is worth a try and if your request is refused, you will not be faulted by the assessment officer for trying to resolve matters amicably.

First, your lawyer must provide you with a bill which shows a lump sum for fees and a breakdown of individual disbursements. Disbursements are monies that your lawyer has spent on your behalf to pay other parties who have provided services in support of your case. If you did not receive a detailed and final bill, contact your lawyer to request one. If you experience difficulties in obtaining a bill from your lawyer, the Complaints Department of your local Law Society will be able to assist you.

KEEP WRITTEN NOTES AND PROOF OF YOUR REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION AND BILLS. THERE ARE TIME LIMITS AND DEADLINES WHICH YOU MUST MEET. These deadlines start from when you received the complete bill in question and you may be required to prove when you did in fact receive it.

Second: Contact your local Assessment Office to make an appointment to have your bill reviewed. An Assessment Officer who reviews the bill is usually an official of the Court in your province.

You probably should make an appointment to have the bill assessed as a precaution while you are negotiating with the lawyer. Try to ascertain what the charges are for and if they seem reasonable. Do not allow this to consume too much time.

If your lawyer refuses to adjust her bill, you can seek to have the amount assessed by a Court Assessment Officer. In Ontario if you apply for the assessment within one month of delivery of the lawyer's bill the assessment is automatic.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ACT PROMPTLY TO HAVE THE LAWYER'S BILL ASSESSED.

Delays may weaken your position and make it appear you just are trying to get out of paying a legitimate bill. In addition, obtaining a judge's order could be costly and the judge may refuse your request for an assessment.

If you delay longer then the month, you will be required to seek either the lawyer's consent to the assessment or a judge's order. Obtaining the judge's order may require you to retain yet another lawyer, although it is possible to represent yourself.

The Provincial Law Society Will NOT Help You.

Clients who have been overcharged for legal work may find relief through the provincial government advocates generically known as "taxing courts."

Low profile, and indeed bordering on forgotten, the taxing courts are squirreled away in the provincial court systems, located in the Court of Queen's Bench (AB, MB, SK), Supreme Court (BC, NF, NS, PEI), or General Division (ON). (Quebec and New Brunswick do not have taxing courts; the only organised means of recourse are the Law Societies, which are operated by lawyers.)

While some complaints get token reductions or none at all, depending on the case and province, other clients have seen their bills plummet as much as fifty percent -- with Ontario and the Western provinces being more aggressive on reductions.

As a rule of thumb, you should file the complaint within 30 days of the date of the final bill. Most provinces offer more leeway, and most have ways to get around the time limit -- but 30 days should be the working assumption.

To initiate the process, gallop down to the courthouse and pick up the complaint form, write out a coherent complaint, and return the papers to the clerk with the filing fee, ranging from fifteen to fifty dollars. The clerk will provide you with a summons to serve your lawyer.

Nothing like litigation, the hearings are held within a few weeks of filing. These hearings are fairly informal, more likely in an office than a courtroom, with the emphasis on facts rather than points of law. Clients generally represent themselves.

The taxing officer (sometimes called a taxing master or assessment officer) hears both sides in fairly short order and makes a decision, usually on the spot. If he reduces the lawyer's bill, he issues the client a legally binding judgement.

There are limits to the tax courts' powers. They will probably find for the client if there is flagrant overbilling. Some taxing officers also find for the client if an inexperienced lawyer charged for excessive research.

But in cases where a competent lawyer gave it a vigorous try, and billed a rational number of hours, a taxing officer might not lower the bill no matter how disastrous the outcome. That is, the taxing officer is not prepared to say, "Your lawyer should have known the opposition had bribed the judge."

Nevertheless, taxing officers know how lawyers operate_and if they are not quite pit-bull consumer advocates, it is hard to go wrong for a fifty dollar filing fee. CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COURT AND ASK FOR THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE YOUR BILL ASSESSED. There are local registrar's offices throughout Canada and they are listed in your local phone book.

You have one month from the time your lawyer sent you the bill to go to the assessment office to start theassessment process. In the alternative, you may ask the lawyer concerned to consent to the late assessment of the bill. If you are late, you will have to ask a judge for permission to start the assessment process. The judge can only give you permission if you have good reasons for being late.

There are four steps in the assessment process.
• First, you have to get an Order of Assessment.
• Second, you have to get an appointment for a hearing.
• Third, you have to give your lawyer copies of papers.
• Fourth, you have to go to the hearing.

First, to get a Notice of Appointment, go to the Assessment Office with the original along with two copies of your lawyer's bill. You will have to pay the requisition to get the Notice of Appointment. Remember to do this within a month of receiving your lawyer's bill. The clerk at the counter will give you an appointment for a hearing.

Second, you must make sure that your lawyer gets a copy of the assessment papers. You can mail them to your lawyer by registered mail or you can deliver them in person. If you deliver them, ask someone in the office to sign and date the documents you keep so that you can prove that you delivered them. If no one will sign your copies of the documents, you will have to prepare what is known as an affidavit of service stating with whom you left the copies, the date and location. This documentmust be sworn by a Comissioner of Oaths. Blank forms are included in the materials you receive from the Assessment Office when you get a Notice of Appointment.

Third. The hearing. You may want to ask a lawyer to represent you at the assessment hearing. Or, you can represent yourself.

The hearing is informal. The Assessment Officer will give you and your lawyer a chance to talk. Remember to bring documents about your case with you. You may also want to ask a person who was there when your lawyer talked to you about fees to come to the hearing to say what was said.

The Assessment Officer will consider many things when reviewing your lawyer's bill, including any information about a fee arrangement you may have had with your lawyer, the amount of time your lawyer spent on your case, the level of expertise required for your case, the importance of the case to you, the amount of money involved, the success, or lack of success, the amount of money you have already paid your lawyer, and, in some cases, your financial resources.

The Assessment Officer can decide that your lawyer's bill is fair or that it is too high. If it is too high, the assessment officer can reduce it.