In property and lending work there is an established habit of the builder, the broker or the lender nominating the lawyer who will examine the title. The buyer is told this is a convenience. It is a convenience, but not to him.
A lawyer whose next instruction depends on the transaction closing has an interest in the transaction closing. He may be entirely honest and still find that a defect presents itself to him as curable when it is fatal, or as a formality when it is a warning. Nobody needs to be corrupt for the arrangement to fail; it is enough that the incentive points one way.
So the rule in my chambers is simple. The fee comes from the client and from nowhere else. No commission from a builder, no referral from a broker, no retainer from a lender whose borrower I may one day be examining.
The consequence is that I sometimes advise people not to buy, and occasionally advise them that a case is not worth running. Both conversations are short and unwelcome, and both are the reason the opinion is worth reading at all.
What clients want to know
How are fees quoted?
In writing, before work begins. Court fees, certified copy charges and travel are billed at actuals against receipts and are never marked up.
General commentary on Indian practice, not advice on any particular matter. Law and procedure differ between states and change over time.