We became aware that when solicitors charged for transactions which did not proceed (abortive transactions), clients were very unhappy to be landed with a bill. So we have never charged for abortive fees (apart from where the client changes their mind on a deal). We also got feedback about how unpopular solicitors were for charging on the basis of time, so when we set up the firm, we vowed to be a fixed fee firm so the client never gets a nasty surprise at the end of the deal.