The Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal from a District Court decision that had upheld summary judgment for a solicitor's fees. The Court accepted that where a client engages a solicitor but refuses to sign a written retainer, an implied agreement to pay reasonable fees arises, and the client's refusal to sign amounts to a repudiation entitling the solicitor to terminate and sue for the reasonable value of services already rendered, applying Planche v Colburn. On the facts, the contemporaneous documentary evidence was so strong that the alleged oral speculative fee agreement had no realistic prospect of being accepted at trial.
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