13.8 Burke and Harpur are solicitors who have recently set up in partnership together and are working hard to establish themselves in a town which already has several solicitors. Both have a charge-out rate per hour of £65. They are preparing a bill for Mrs Henrietta Higgs, for whom they have recently drafted a will.

The bill contains the following items:

£

Fees for time: 43 hours @ £65 2 795 Taxation specialist’s charges for advice 650 Other sundry charges 240 Total 3 685 The partners disagree about how much to charge. Burke thinks that £3685 is a ridiculously high amount to charge for drafting a will, and that if word gets out that the firm charges that much for the service, it will badly damage their chances of increasing business.

He says they should charge £1500 and be prepared to take the loss.

Harpur worked the majority of the 43 hours noted on the bill. He defends the high charge on the grounds that it is only so high because Mrs Higgs wasted such a lot of time changing her mind about who should inherit her considerable wealth. Also, because she is so rich, she should be able to afford the charges. He adds that he personally doesn’t care if Mrs Higgs doesn’t use their services again because she was so difficult to deal with.

Discuss the points of view of the two partners on this pricing problem. Which partner do you think is correct?