The ECJ decision of 12 January 2023 (C-395/21) has caused considerable uncertainty among German lawyers as to whether time-based fee clauses are still permissible at all vis-à-vis consumers only under strict conditions that can hardly be met in practice. The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has provided some relief by stating in its decision of 12 September 2024 (IX ZR 65/23) that an agreement on an hourly fee is also valid if the lawyer has not yet informed the client of the scale of the fee before the contract is concluded and the lawyer has also not made any commitment to the client to provide interim invoices during the current mandate.