What does a solicitors fee entail?

Answer 1

That is hard to answer because it depends on the case (heritage, divorce, gift, neighbourhood dispute, theft,..) the solicitor is working at, how much effort it takes to work on the case, how expensive and popular the solicitor is etc. A contract based on hourly rates may lead to an unpredictable amount of costs. Therefore an option of a fixed fee would cause costs that are known from the beginning.