How Fees Are Discussed and Agreed With Advocate B.K. Singh's Team

When does Advocate B.K. Singh's team bring up fees?

At the first meeting, once we've read your papers. And it's settled in writing before anyone starts work on the matter. We don't quote before reading. A figure given blind is either padded to cover surprises or too thin to pay for the work the case really needs. Neither does you any good. It's the same across all our commercial court work, whether that's a recovery suit, a defence or an execution.

You won't find fee amounts on this website. Part VI, Chapter II of the Bar Council of India Rules stops advocates from advertising or soliciting work, and putting rates up publicly sits badly with that. There's a practical reason too. Take two Rs 25 lakh recovery suits. In one the buyer won't contest. In the other the buyer fights every application and then files a counter-claim for good measure. The right fee for those two files isn't remotely the same.

If the first consultation carries a fee, you're told when you book it. Any fee for the matter itself goes into a written fee letter. You read it, and accept it, before we start on the notice, the plaint or the defence.

What Advocate B.K. Singh weighs before he suggests a figure

He looks at the shape of the work. Not just the amount. Which court will hear the case, a district commercial court or the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court? Is a summary suit open to you, or is this a regular suit with a full trial? Do you need urgent relief, say an injunction or attachment before judgment? How many documents will have to be disclosed, and how many witnesses examined? And will the other side fight, with enough money behind it to drag things out for years?

Time matters too. Say a defendant walks in on day 25 of the 30-day period for the written statement. That's a lot of work squeezed into five days. Or a supplier whose oldest invoice is four months short of the limitation date, where the notice and the mediation application have to move within days. Urgency changes who works on the file. It changes how many hands it needs.

The fee conversation he sees go wrong most often starts on the phone. 'What will a Rs 40 lakh recovery case cost?' Honestly, two Rs 40 lakh cases can differ several times over in the work involved. A useful discussion starts with documents on the table. That's why our note on what to bring to a first meeting lists the papers you should carry.

How commercial lawyers in Delhi usually charge

Broadly, commercial lawyer fees in Delhi come in a handful of forms. Some lawyers fix a fee for each stage. Some charge per appearance and bill drafting separately. Some take a lump sum for the whole matter, and companies with a steady stream of disputes often keep a lawyer on retainer. Each has its uses. Our guide on how commercial court lawyers charge in Delhi sets them side by side.

We mostly work stage by stage. A commercial case has natural breaks in it: the notice, mediation, filing, written statement and replication, evidence, final arguments, and then appeal and execution. Plenty of cases stop at one of those points. They settle, or there's a decree on admission, or summary judgment, or leave to defend is refused. With a stage-wise fee you pay for the stages you actually reach. At each break you decide whether to carry on.

A lump sum sounds tidy. But it means guessing on day one how far the case will go. Per-appearance billing is worse. It it pays the lawyer more each time the matter is adjourned, and adjournments are the last thing you want in a court that's supposed to penalise delay. Stage fees keep everyone's eye on finishing each stage properly. That's our view, anyway.

What stage-wise fees look like on a real file

Each stage gets its own scope and its own fee, written down before it begins. A typical recovery matter might break up like this. First, review and advice: we read the papers, check limitation and jurisdiction, and give you a written note of the options. Then notice and mediation, which means drafting the legal notice, filing the Section 12A application and sitting through the sessions. Filing comes next. That's the plaint with its statement of truth and document disclosure, court fee paid, and any urgent application. After that come hearings to judgment, covering replication, admission and denial of documents, case management, evidence and final arguments. Appeal and execution are quoted separately, if and when you get there.

For a defendant the stages move around a bit. There's the written statement and any counter-claim, then hearings. In a summary suit the application for leave to defend is a stage of its own. If something comes out of nowhere, like an injunction application from the other side, we talk about it when it arrives. It doesn't get buried in some general figure.

You usually pay for a stage before it starts, or in agreed parts during it. That way you're only ever on the hook for the next step. A client who settles after mediation hasn't paid in advance for a trial that never happens.

What goes into the written fee letter

• Who the client is, and what the matter is. The company, firm or proprietor that's actually the party (not just whoever came to the meeting), plus a line or two on the dispute and the court.
• Each stage and what's in it. Something like 'drafting and filing the plaint, including one urgent application', so nobody argues later about what counted as extra.
• What each stage costs and when it's due. Upfront, on filing or in parts, and how you'll pay.
• What's left out. Court fee, mediation fee, process fee, certified copies, notarisation, travel, associate counsel in another city and Advocate-on-Record charges in the Supreme Court are all listed separately.
• Other advocates and outstation dates. If another advocate will attend any part of the case, the letter says so, and that advocate's fee gets agreed with you beforehand.
• Settlement or withdrawal. You don't pay for stages that haven't started. Work already done inside a stage is handled the way the letter says.
• GST and invoices. How GST is treated, and what invoice or receipt you'll get for each payment.
• Who you talk to. Your contact on the team, and how you'll hear what happened after each hearing.

What the professional fee doesn't cover

The professional fee pays for the advocate's own work. Advice, drafting, letters, appearances. Anything paid to someone else is separate, and it should be listed in the fee letter so that it doesn't land on you later as a surprise.

In a plaintiff's case the biggest outside item is usually court fee, which we come to below. After that there's the Section 12A mediation fee, a small prescribed amount under the 2018 Rules. Process fee for serving summons. Notary and oath commissioner charges on affidavits, stamp paper where it's needed, certified copies of orders and judgments, and typing or printing when the paper book runs into hundreds of pages. If the case is in another city, add travel and associate counsel. In the Supreme Court, the Advocate-on-Record's charges. Every so often a case needs a translator, a handwriting expert, a local commissioner or a chartered accountant's report.

In most commercial suits these out-of-pocket costs are small beside the court fee and the professional fee. On a long case they creep up. Ask for a rough estimate at each stage, and keep every receipt, since you'll need them when you claim costs from the other side.

Can the fee be a share of what's recovered?

No. Rule 20 of the Bar Council of India Rules, in the same chapter on professional conduct, says an advocate shall not stipulate for a fee contingent on the results of litigation or agree to share the proceeds. So an Indian advocate can't take a percentage of what comes in. Nor can we charge only if you win.

Business owners ask for this all the time, mostly in recovery work, because it feels like it puts the lawyer on their side. The rule is there for good reason. A lawyer with a stake in the result may give advice that suits the lawyer, for instance by resisting a sensible settlement because a bigger number pays more. If someone offers to run your recovery for a cut of whatever is collected, treat it as a warning. Collection agencies work that way. They aren't advocates, and their methods and limits are different.

What you can fairly ask for is clarity. A fixed fee per stage. Then you know what each decision costs before you make it. That's fair to both sides.

Court fee: where you file changes the bill

Court fee is a statutory charge paid to the State when the plaint is filed. It isn't the lawyer's fee. No lawyer can bring it down. For a money suit it's ad valorem, a percentage of the claim on a sliding scale, so a bigger claim pays more. Delhi follows the Court Fees Act, 1870 as amended for Delhi, while Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have schedules of their own. The same claim can carry one court fee in Saket, another in Ghaziabad and a third in Gurugram. Check the current schedule before you file. Our guide to court fee on a recovery suit in Delhi shows how it's worked out.

The forum changes the professional work too. In Delhi, commercial suits up to Rs 2 crore go to the District Judge (Commercial Court) in the district with territorial jurisdiction, and bigger suits go to the Commercial Division of the Delhi High Court. A recommendation to raise the district limit to Rs 10 crore was made in July 2026. Check where the limit stands when you file. High Court practice has its own rules on paper books, listing and procedure, and they add work. In Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, the court designated as Commercial Court for the district hears the suit, with appeals to the Allahabad High Court or the Punjab and Haryana High Court respectively.

One point people miss. Where the court refers a suit to a mode of settlement and it settles there, the court fee rules provide for a refund of court fee in many cases. Whether you get it, and how much, turns on the stage and the rule that applies. Ask before you sign the settlement. For the full set of costs, see our guide on what a commercial court case costs in Delhi.

Can you get your legal costs back from the other side?

Some of them. Sometimes most. In commercial disputes, Section 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as substituted by the Commercial Courts Act, makes it the general rule that the losing party pays the successful party's costs, though the court can order otherwise for reasons it records. Costs can include witnesses' fees and expenses, legal fees and expenses, and other expenses of the proceedings. The court looks at conduct too. A party that caused delay, made frivolous claims or turned down a reasonable settlement offer can be made to pay more.

To claim costs you need proof of what you spent. That's one more reason for a written fee agreement, proper invoices and payment through the bank. If you paid in cash and took no receipt, there's very little to show the judge. Our guide on actual costs in a commercial court explains how courts assess them.

Be realistic, though. A costs order is worth whatever the other side can pay, and you recover it through execution like the main decree. Don't build a budget on the idea that every rupee of legal spend will come back. It usually won't.

GST, TDS and receipts on legal fees

Legal services by an individual advocate or a firm of advocates to a business entity are generally taxed under GST on reverse charge. In plain words, the business client pays the GST to the government, not the advocate. Services to individuals are exempt, and so are services to business entities whose turnover in the previous year was within the threshold set by the exemption notification. It gets detailed. Ask your chartered accountant how your business should account for it, and tell us, so the invoice comes out right.

A company or firm paying professional fees may also have to deduct tax at source. The Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026 and renumbered a lot of provisions. Check the current provision and rate with your accountant. Don't go by the old section numbers.

Whatever the tax position, pay through the bank and take an invoice or receipt for every payment. The Bar Council rules require advocates to keep accounts of money received from clients. A clean record protects both of us if there's ever a disagreement about what was paid for which stage.

What happens to the fee if the case settles or you switch lawyers?

Settling is a good result. The fee structure shouldn't penalise it. Under a stage-wise agreement you don't pay for stages that haven't begun. Say the buyer settles during Section 12A mediation. You've paid for review, notice and mediation. Nothing for filing or trial. If it settles halfway through a stage, the fee letter says how that stage is treated, which is exactly why that clause deserves a careful read before you sign.

You're also free to change your advocate whenever you like. In a pending suit that's done with a fresh vakalatnama, ideally with a no-objection from the earlier advocate, and the file gets handed over. Fees for work already done are settled as agreed. Our guide on changing your lawyer in a pending commercial suit walks through the procedure.

What causes trouble is fee questions left unspoken until they turn into a dispute. If a stage is growing (because the other side has filed three interim applications, say), we raise it with you. The change is agreed in writing before the extra work is done.

Where clients go wrong in the fee conversation

• Looking only at the total. One quote may be drafting alone. Another may be drafting plus every hearing. Compare what's covered, not the bottom line.
• Forgetting the court fee. On a big claim it can be a serious sum. Get an estimate under the current schedule before you decide to file.
• Going for the cheapest draft. A defective plaint can be rejected or returned, and fixing it costs more than getting it right first time. Commercial suits don't forgive slips in the statement of truth or disclosure.
• Cash, and no receipts. You lose the record you need to claim costs and to sort out any later disagreement.
• Never asking about appeal and execution. A decree isn't the finish line. Find out how those stages will be handled before you begin.
• Saying yes to a share-of-recovery offer. Advocates aren't allowed to work that way, and the offer itself is a red flag.
• Keeping your budget to yourself. If there's a ceiling on what you can spend, tell us. The advice on route and strategy can work around it.

How the fee conversation usually goes, step by step

From your first call to a signed fee letter, it normally runs like this.

1. Send the papers before the meeting

   Contract, invoices, ledger, emails, and any court papers you've received. You'll be told when you book whether the consultation itself carries a fee.

2. We read them and advise

   We go through the papers and talk about the route: notice, mediation, summary suit, regular suit, urgent relief or settlement. The likely stages fall out of that discussion.

3. Fee and costs

   We propose a professional fee for each stage, with an estimate of court fee and other costs. Ask whatever you like. Tell us if there's a budget limit.

4. The fee letter

   Scope, stage fees, exclusions, taxes and what happens on settlement go into writing. You read it and accept it.

5. Vakalatnama, then work starts

   You sign the vakalatnama where one is needed and pay for the first stage as agreed. Then we begin.

6. A check at every break

   Before each new stage we confirm with you whether to go ahead and what that stage costs. Any change in scope gets flagged.

Each cost, who fixes it and when you pay it

Questions to settle before you sign the fee letter

• Which stages does this fee cover, and what's outside it?
• Roughly what will court fee come to, and under which state's schedule?
• Who turns up for routine dates, and who argues the ones that matter?
• Will we need associate counsel? How will their fee be agreed?
• What happens if the other side files an interim application we didn't see coming?
• If it settles at mediation, or halfway through a stage, what do we owe?
• How is GST handled, and what invoice will we get?
• Who's our contact, and how do we hear about each hearing?
• If an appeal or execution is needed, how will that be handled?

Different clients, different fee conversations

A startup chasing a big client usually has more claim than cash. So the talk is about the cheapest route that still protects the claim, often a well-built notice and mediation before anything is filed. A registered micro or small enterprise may have the MSME Facilitation Council open to it, and that changes the stages and costs completely. A mid-sized manufacturer with disputes running all year round may prefer one agreement covering several matters.

Bigger companies generally need the fee letter to fit their procurement system. Purchase order, vendor registration, sign-off on each stage by the legal head, invoices that pass audit. That's fine. It's far easier to set up at the start than in the middle of a case. Defendants are a different story, because the deadline drives everything. For a summary suit defence the fee discussion may happen the same day the papers arrive, with the scope fixed fast so that appearance and the leave to defend application aren't held up. Our page on summary suits explains why those first days matter so much.

What to do this week, before the fee talk

Get your papers together: contract or purchase orders, invoices, ledger, emails and any court papers. Work out what result you want and what you can sensibly spend to get it. Jot down a few questions from the checklist above, and use our guide on questions to ask a commercial court lawyer before hiring for the rest. The process and fees page gives the stages in short. And commercial court services lists the disputes we take on.

Want the scope of your case looked at, and the fee for each stage set down in writing before you decide anything? Share your papers with Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.