The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to a local authority in respect of a breach of Article 5(1)(f) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation. The local authority had included a spreadsheet in its response to a Freedom of...
What types of claims do you specialise in?
- Commercial and civil dispute resolution/Litigation
- Family Law - divorce, co-habitation, finances, children matters.
- Personal injury claims
- Medical Negligence cases.
What type of work do you not take on?
We do not provide legal services in will writing, estate management, crime, traffic offences, immigration, education and claims against the police. We are not a legal aid practice.
How much will it cost to instruct you?
Commercial and Civil Disputes
We can offer no win no fee agreements on commercial and civil litigation matters, these agreements are offered when it is your interests to do so. We will not advise taking on a no win no fee if you will be financially worse off.
Sometimes we will need to charge a client to assess whether their case is suitable for no win no fee funding. Sometimes the case is more straight forward and we can offer no win no fee funding without needing to charge the client to assess its suitability.
Otherwise, fees for commercial and civil litigation claims are billed as the case progresses. We give regular cost updates, and let you know how much each stage of the litigation will cost. There are no hidden fees.
We offer fixed fees on landlord and tenant disputes, and debt recovery.
Personal Injury & Medical Negligence Cases
All our personal injury and medical negligence cases are run under a no win no fee basis. This means if we do not win, we do not get paid. We do not ask for fees upfront, we are paid at the end of your successful case. We charge a percentage of your settlement, which is usually 25%.
Family Law
We offer a 30 minute free consultation at the start of your case. Depending on the complexity of your divorce we will ether charge a fixed fee, or pay as you go basis. We offer an affordable monthly instalment plan to assist your financial planning. We have a relationship with Iceberg credit finance, who may be able to fund your case, however, you would need to take independent financial advice if you decide this financing arrangement would be suitable.
What is legal expenses insurance and do I have it?
Legal expenses insurance is sometimes included in business cover, attached to a household buildings or contents policy or provided as a benefit with some bank accounts or credit cards. If you have insurance, you should notify your insurers immediately and ask if they will pay for us to give the advice you are seeking.
Unless you have existing legal expenses insurance and your provider has confirmed that they will pay for our service, then you would need to pay for us to advise you on your legal position. We will only be able to start work under an insured claim when we receive written authority from your insurers; therefore it is essential that you obtain this authority as soon as possible.
Will the value of claim make it worthwhile financially for me to instruct a firm of solicitors?
If the claim is worth more than £10,000 then you certainly may wish to consider the specialist legal representation which we offer and we therefore recommend that you contact our office.
Where the amount in dispute is less than £10,000 the court system is geared towards Claimants and Defendants running their own cases and the ‘small claims track’ has been designed to cater for this.
Parties are not able to recover their legal costs in matters which the courts allocate to the ‘small claims track’. The court rules do not provide for successful parties to recover their costs in the small claims court. Therefore, the legal fees can be greater than the amount in dispute.
For this reason it is generally uneconomic to instruct any solicitor to run a case through the whole legal procedure when it is allocated to the ‘small claims track’. However it can be helpful for us to advise you in relation to specific elements or prepare certain documents for you in such a case. You may wish to instruct us to carry out certain stages of the legal process in pursuing or defending a small claim. For example, if you would like us to write a ‘Letter of Claim’ or ‘Defence’ on your behalf, you should contact our office for a fixed fee.
Please note, if you have legal expenses insurance (see above) and your insurers agree to cover your legal costs, we may we may well be able to assist you regardless of the value of your claim.
If you would like to pursue the claim through the small claims court yourself and would like to find out more information about how to do this, this website has a great deal of information on the subject.
When bringing a civil claim, you must comply with the Civil Procedure Rules. You may prejudice your claim if you fail to comply with these rules.
Can you give me advice without you taking my case on?
Unless we are under a retainer (i.e. the contract formed between a solicitor and client) we are not able to provide you with legal advice.
The Citizens Advice Bureau and the Free Advice Unit are charities which may be able to give you free advice where it is uneconomic for us to act on your behalf, or you do not choose to have legal representation.
