A right to payment of attorneys` fees due under a controversial trade agreement (CBA) should be levied under Part 8 and a conditional fee agreement (CFA) can be a CBA, the High Court ruled. Section 61 of the Solicitors Act 1974 provides that a disputed business agreement is not a plea capable of constituting a right to costs, but that such an agreement must first be submitted to the General Court to determine whether it is fair and appropriate. Master Brown rejected the secular client`s assertion that, if the agreement is not treated as an invitation to pay on account, it is a contentious business agreement. In addition, it has been found that certain agreements between solicitors and their clients do not fall within the scope of section 59 of the Solicitors Act 1974. He went on to say that if he was wrong and the deal was a controversial business deal, it was fair and reasonable and should not be set aside. If all the hourly rate reserves for process services are contentious trade agreements, so we cannot simply sue our fees, what other options are there? Some bills are not huge and having them assessed first would be disproportionate to the amount in question, so we need a way to sue one or the other client who simply does not pay their few hundred quid for the few hours of work we have done. `Clearly and in a natural reading of Article 59(1), a CFA is an agreement on the remuneration of the lawyer and an agreement such as this CFA, which fixes an hourly rate, is an agreement in which remuneration is fixed by reference to an hourly rate.