Responding to the Ministry of Justice consultation, ‘Interest on lawyers’ client accounts’, which closed this week, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) said the proposals failed to stipulate how much might be raised, how it would be spent or what cost it would impose on law firms.
CILEX president Sara Fowler said the idea of using client money interest ‘has potential’ if ‘properly thought through’. However, ‘as it stands, we are being consulted on proposals that lack an underpinning evidence base,’ she said.
The Law Society and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) have both robustly opposed the proposals.
Former APIL president John McQuater said some smaller firms ‘use any retained interest from client accounts to, for example, offset overdraft charges and provide funding models that are more beneficial to clients’.
