In BC in addition to the oversight of lawyers by the Law Society of BC in respect of systemic billing abuses as a matter of professional conduct, each client has the right to bring each and every legal bill before an independent arbiter.

Under the BC Legal Profession Act clients have the right to have a lawyer’s bill reviewed by a BC Supreme Court Registrar. A fee review is a formal process similar to a court hearing. It is administered by the BC Supreme Court and not by the Law Society. 

There is also the  Law Society Fee Mediation Program is which a free, informal service to help lawyers and clients resolve fee disputes quickly without having to go to court.

Only once have I had client review a bill and the Master (now Registrar) concluded the account was fair and noted that I had already given the client a substantial discount despite the long hours of research and argument needed to deal with a novel and very complex point of law... on which I had succeeded.