Lastly, if opposition is to be maintained, there will be the action of retaining and briefing counsel and arranging for evidence to be given before the commissioners.

I would imagine that what the solicitor in your landlord-tenant case was doing was asking for funds up front to cover the work they were going to carry out, which may well have included briefing counsel, rather than just a "consultation fee".

Before the new regulations were introduced it was found that most prospective solicitors gained some practical experience of: registered and unregistered conveyancing, landlord and tenant, matrimonial causes, probate and succession, family law, criminal law, accident claims, litigation generally and briefing counsel.