Electronic Signatures And The Solicitors Act 1974 (Elias V Wallace)

• Published date: 14 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Construction & Planning
• Law Firm: Gatehouse Chambers
• Author: Mr Martyn Griffiths

Commercial analysis: The Claimant brought Part 8 proceedings under s.68 of the Solicitors Act seeking an order that the Defendant solicitors' firm deliver a statute bill. In so doing the Claimant contended that the invoices served by the Defendant did not meet the requirements of the Act.

One of those requirements was that the invoices be signed; this can be by way of electronic signature (s.69(2B)). The Defendant had sent invoices by email. The Court therefore had to consider (i) whether the signature in the email footer was a valid electronic signature and (ii) if it was, whether this was sufficient to meet the requirement that a valid statute bill "be enclosed in, or accompanied by, a letter which is signed . and refers to the bill" (s.69(2A)(b)).

The Court held that:

• The email signature was a valid electronic signature.
• The court should adopt an updating construction to the word 'letter' such that the signature being contained in an email met the requirements of the Act.

Elias v Wallace LLP [2022] EWHC 2574 (SCCO)

What are the practical implications of this case?

There are two practical implications of the case. Firstly, the Court applied the decision in Neocleous v Rees [2019] EWHC 2462 (Ch.) and determined that the automated footer in an email constitutes an electronic signature. The words 'electronic signature' for the purposes of the Solicitors Act are defined by s.7(2) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000, so this decision is of broader application than costs disputes.

Secondly, the decision to permit an electronic signature to be contained in an email relaxes one of the formalities required by the Act for an invoice to amount to a statute bill. This means that it will be easier for solicitors to meet this requirement and to start time running for their clients to commence an assessment under the Act. It removes one of the hurdles that can be deployed by clients to argue that they have not been sent a statute bill (even though they have received an invoice), and that therefore time has not started to run for the purposes of seeking an assessment of their solicitors' fees.

What was the background?

The background to the claim was very straightforward. The Defendant solicitors had been engaged by the Claimant to work on a dispute in the Business and Property Courts between July and October 2020. The Claimant was sent several invoices by email from August to October 2020. The Claimant contended that the invoices were not interim or final...