Studio B Hair Design Pty Ltd trading as Studio B Hair Design v Kerrison trading as Kerrisons Legal Services [2026] NSWCA 193 — General Lien & Appeals — Barrister AI
Studio B Hair Design Pty Ltd trading as Studio B Hair Design v Kerrison trading as Kerrisons Legal Services
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS — general lien — dispute over trust monies held in solicitor’s trust account — where primary judge found solicitor holds a general retaining lien over all trust monies in its possession — whether general lien is over all monies in trust account or only the portion of the monies payable pursuant to the costs judgment — whether general lien extends to enforcement costs or only to costs incurred on the instructions of the client
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS — appeals — leave to appeal — where leave ought be granted as authorities are inconsistent and the appeal raises important matters of principle regarding scope of a solicitor’s general lien
Quick Take
1A solicitor's general retaining lien extends to all money held in a trust account for the client, not merely to an amount equivalent to the outstanding costs; the distinction drawn in Miller v Atlee between money and other property is not good law and the lien operates over the whole fund until costs are paid in full.
2A solicitor's general lien covers not only costs incurred on the instructions of the client but also costs incurred by the solicitor in quantifying or enforcing the solicitor's claim for legal costs, as established by Gray v Graham (1855) 2 Macq 435; the contrary dictum in White v Bini [2003] FCA 669 at [8] is not supported by the authorities cited for it.
3A final certificate of costs assessment that has been issued but not yet filed as a judgment satisfies the requirement that costs be 'reasonably due and owing' for the purposes of s 144(2)(a) of the Legal Profession Uniform Law; the quantification of costs is not a precondition to the creation of a general lien.
