HOW IT WORKS
Legal Watch Australia is a private organisation which collects, interprets and publishes statistics regarding
Cost Assessmen outcomes, thereby making solicitors broadly accountable for their billing practices.
By publishing data in the form of an algorithm, it is equivalent to a ‘credit rating’ system for the legal profession,
on the important issue of client costs management.
Algorithm
Legal Watch Australia collects data comprising of the number of cost assessment applications in the Supreme Court relating to the law firm/practitioner, and their outcomes. In particular, we consider how many times costs are upheld, set aside, or reduced, and in the latter instance, by what percentage.
Whilst factoring in the number of years in operation, an algorithm then collates the data to generate points between 1 and 100, with the latter reflecting an unblemished record, whilst a progressively lower score indicating the opposite. These points constitute the CMI rating.
Legal Watch Australia collects data comprising of the number of cost assessment applications in the Supreme Court relating to the law firm/practitioner, and their outcomes. In particular, we consider how many times costs are upheld, set aside, or reduced, and in the latter instance, by what percentage.
Whilst factoring in the number of years in operation, an algorithm then collates the data to generate points between 1 and 100, with the latter reflecting an unblemished record, whilst a progressively lower score indicating the opposite. These points constitute the CMI rating.
The CMI is presented on the Legal Watch Australia website where the public can use the data, among other considerations, to guide them in selecting a firm, practice or lawyer.
Although the CMI constitutes objective data analysis, it is a reasonable inference to make that the more often a solicitor’s costs are challenged by clients, the higher the chances there is a disconnect between that solicitor and their clients, as far as billing and costs are concerned. Secondly, if a solicitor’s costs are regularly reduced during the Assessment process, the more likely it is the solicitor is consistently overcharging.
Accountability
We hope this system will encourage greater accountability within the legal profession thereby improving the billing culture and client communication. This, in turn, will improve the reputation of the profession by elevating the quality of services. It will ensure the billing process becomes more responsible, transparent and accountable, and where a dispute emerges, will encourage negotiation between the solicitor and client to arrive at a resolution, rather than defaulting to the Cost Assessment process. The LWA system reveals those solicitors that have excellent track records, thereby rightly boosting their reputation, and conversely, exposing those with poor track records.