Family – Divorce
For privately paying clients, we charge £550 plus VAT and disbursements, such as court fees, for a straightforward uncontested divorce with no ancillary issues involving children and/or finances, or other factors. In all cases there will be a petition fee that is payable to the court (currently set at £550) unless you are in receipt of benefits or have a low income, in which case you may be able to claim fee-exemption for part or all of the court fees. We can discuss your potential eligibility at the first meeting.
Family – Finances
If you require our assistance with settling the matrimonial finances, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hours plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter. The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates as set out below.
Pay band Fee earner
National grade 3 A Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience
£201 B Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience
£177 C Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience
£146 D Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners £111
In a relatively straightforward matter, our professional costs of resolving the matrimonial finances without recourse to contested court proceedings can be anywhere between £750 and £1500 plus VAT. There will also be a Court Fee of £50.00 when lodging an agreed Consent Order with the Court. Please also note that if expert evidence such as Surveyors, Accountants and/or Pension Experts reports are required, then these will be additional costs to those already outlined. It is difficult to give an estimate of experts fees as these will depend on the particular circumstances of the case.
If expert evidence is required, then it is normal to contact a number of experts in a given field to obtain an indication of their likely costs, experience and timescales for completing a report and a decision is then made after taking all of these issues into consideration. Disbursements such as these will always be incurred after consulting with you and with your agreement.
If the finances cannot be resolved by agreement and require court proceedings to be issued, then our professional costs may be significantly more than this. In a typical contested matter, our professional costs if the matter proceeds to a full contested Final Hearing are normally in the region of £10,000 - £15,000 plus VAT and disbursements, but could be even more than this if the circumstances of the case are particularly complicated. There will be a Court Fee of £255 payable when issuing the application with the Court and in addition to the potential expert evidence costs, it may also be necessary to instruct a Specialist Family Law Barrister to attend and represent you at any Court Hearings.
As with the obtaining of expert evidence, we will normally contact a number of Barristers Chambers of Barristers who we regularly use in advance of any hearing to establish cost, experience and availability and then a decision is made after considering all of these factors along with the particular circumstances of the case. Please note that disbursements such as Barristers Fees and any expert evidence will need to be paid up front before any work is undertaken.
Family – Children Act Proceedings
For all childcare matters, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter.The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates as set out above.
If you are required to make a contested application to the Family Proceedings Court then a Court Fee of £215 will be payable unless you are in receipt of benefits or have a low income, in which case you may be able to claim fee-exemption for part or all of the court fees. We can discuss your potential eligibility at the first meeting.
It may also be necessary to instruct a Specialist Family Law Barrister to attend and represent you at any Court Hearings. If we consider it to be in your best interests to be represented by a Barrister, then we will normally contact a number of Barristers Chambers for Barristers who we regularly use in advance of any hearing to establish cost, experience and availability and then a decision is made after considering all of these factors along with the particular circumstances of the case. Please note that disbursements such as Barristers Fees will need to be paid up front before any work is undertaken.
Employment Matters - Wrongful/Unfair Dismissal Claims to the Employment Tribunal
Costs
For all employment matters, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter. The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates.as set out below.
Pay band Fee earner
National grade 3 A Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience
£201 B Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience
£177 C Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience
£146 D Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners £111
We anticipate that our fees for dealing with your matter will be in the following ranges, if we are instructed from and in relation to the beginning of ACAS Early Conciliation up to and including to a final hearing:
Simple case: £3,000 to £5,000 plus VAT (£3,600 to £6,000 with VAT)
Medium complexity case: £5,000 to £10,000 plus VAT (£6,000 to £12,000 with VAT)
High complexity case: £10,000 to £30,000 plus VAT (£12,000 to £36,000 with VAT)
Factors that could make the matter more complex include:
- If there is a dispute as to whether there was a dismissal
- If automatic unfair dismissal is alleged (including due to the requirement for a preliminary hearing)
- If there was a long and/or detailed history of relevant events which led to dismissal
- If multiple and/or detailed allegations were made by either party that are relevant to the dismissal
- If there is a lot of documentary evidence
- If there are pertinent witnesses beyond the claimant, a dismissing officer and an appeal officer
- If a party fails to comply with the Tribunals’ directions or otherwise conducts the proceedings in an unreasonable manner
- If there is detailed evidence relating to quantum (compensation), such as in relation to complex remuneration arrangements, pension loss, the availability of new work, the assessment of income from a business set up by the claimant post dismissal, and/or any impact of ill health on the claimant’s ability to work
Other types of employment claim will involve different charges. Please ask us for details.
Disbursements
If the matter proceeds to a Fully Contested Hearing or there is particular complexity to the case which would justify their earlier involvement, we would normally instruct a specialist Employment Law Barrister to attend and represent you at the Employment Tribunal.
The cost of a Barrister will depend upon their level of experience and expertise, and typically for a Final Hearing, their costs can range from approximately £500 plus VAT (£600 with VAT) per day for a very junior barrister and to over £2,000 plus VAT (over £2,400 with VAT) per day for a very senior barrister. It is a policy that payment on account of Barristers fees is made up front and prior to any hearing.
If a medical report is to be obtained in relation to the assessment of compensation, costs can be as low as around £100 plus VAT (£120 with VAT) for obtaining a short report from your GP to in the region of £1,000 to £2,500 plus VAT (£1,200 to £3,000 with VAT) for obtaining a Medico-Legal report from a consultant.
Services Included
The following services and key stages are included within the above indicated fees:-
- taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change);
- entering into ACAS conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
- preparing claim or response;
- reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party;
- exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process;
- preparing for and considering a schedule of loss;
- preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing;
- exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents;
- taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses;
- preparing bundle of documents;
- reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
- agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list;
- preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel where necessary,
Timescales
The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during ACAS conciliation, your case is likely to take 1-6 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 20-52 weeks. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.
Civil Litigation & Debt Recovery
If Court proceedings are not issued and in relation to Debt Recovery claims only:
Letter before action to be posted on same day as receipt of instructions received before 2.00pm (for simple debts):£75 plus VAT
Simple debt matter (pre-court advice): approximately £200.00 plus VAT
Complicated matters (extensive advice, correspondence and negotiation) approximately £550.00 plus VAT
If Court proceedings are issued in relation to all Civil Litigation and Debt Recovery matters: For all civil litigation and debt recovery which proceed to contested Court Proceedings, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter in accordance with Court Guideline Rates as set out below.
Pay band Fee earner
National grade 3 A Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience
£201 B Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience
£177 C Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience
£146 D Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners £111
Please note that Legal fees incurred in a small claims court are not usually recoverable.
Disbursements
If court proceedings are issued, then court fees will apply. Court fees can be viewed on this GOV.UK page (external link), but we can advise you on these.
For privately paying clients, we charge £550 plus VAT and disbursements, such as court fees, for a straightforward uncontested divorce with no ancillary issues involving children and/or finances, or other factors. In all cases there will be a petition fee that is payable to the court (currently set at £550) unless you are in receipt of benefits or have a low income, in which case you may be able to claim fee-exemption for part or all of the court fees. We can discuss your potential eligibility at the first meeting.
Family – Finances
If you require our assistance with settling the matrimonial finances, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hours plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter. The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates as set out below.
| Pay band | Fee earner | National grade 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience | £201 | |||||
| B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience | £177 | |||||
| C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £146 | |||||
| D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £111 |
In a relatively straightforward matter, our professional costs of resolving the matrimonial finances without recourse to contested court proceedings can be anywhere between £750 and £1500 plus VAT. There will also be a Court Fee of £50.00 when lodging an agreed Consent Order with the Court. Please also note that if expert evidence such as Surveyors, Accountants and/or Pension Experts reports are required, then these will be additional costs to those already outlined. It is difficult to give an estimate of experts fees as these will depend on the particular circumstances of the case.
If expert evidence is required, then it is normal to contact a number of experts in a given field to obtain an indication of their likely costs, experience and timescales for completing a report and a decision is then made after taking all of these issues into consideration. Disbursements such as these will always be incurred after consulting with you and with your agreement.
If the finances cannot be resolved by agreement and require court proceedings to be issued, then our professional costs may be significantly more than this. In a typical contested matter, our professional costs if the matter proceeds to a full contested Final Hearing are normally in the region of £10,000 - £15,000 plus VAT and disbursements, but could be even more than this if the circumstances of the case are particularly complicated. There will be a Court Fee of £255 payable when issuing the application with the Court and in addition to the potential expert evidence costs, it may also be necessary to instruct a Specialist Family Law Barrister to attend and represent you at any Court Hearings.
As with the obtaining of expert evidence, we will normally contact a number of Barristers Chambers of Barristers who we regularly use in advance of any hearing to establish cost, experience and availability and then a decision is made after considering all of these factors along with the particular circumstances of the case. Please note that disbursements such as Barristers Fees and any expert evidence will need to be paid up front before any work is undertaken.
Family – Children Act Proceedings
For all childcare matters, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter.The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates as set out above.
If you are required to make a contested application to the Family Proceedings Court then a Court Fee of £215 will be payable unless you are in receipt of benefits or have a low income, in which case you may be able to claim fee-exemption for part or all of the court fees. We can discuss your potential eligibility at the first meeting.
It may also be necessary to instruct a Specialist Family Law Barrister to attend and represent you at any Court Hearings. If we consider it to be in your best interests to be represented by a Barrister, then we will normally contact a number of Barristers Chambers for Barristers who we regularly use in advance of any hearing to establish cost, experience and availability and then a decision is made after considering all of these factors along with the particular circumstances of the case. Please note that disbursements such as Barristers Fees will need to be paid up front before any work is undertaken.
Employment Matters - Wrongful/Unfair Dismissal Claims to the Employment Tribunal
Costs
For all employment matters, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter. The fee earners involved in dealing with your matter will charge based on their relevant experience and in accordance with the Solicitors Guideline Hourly Rates.as set out below.
| Pay band | Fee earner | National grade 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience | £201 | |||||
| B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience | £177 | |||||
| C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £146 | |||||
| D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £111 |
We anticipate that our fees for dealing with your matter will be in the following ranges, if we are instructed from and in relation to the beginning of ACAS Early Conciliation up to and including to a final hearing:
Simple case: £3,000 to £5,000 plus VAT (£3,600 to £6,000 with VAT)
Medium complexity case: £5,000 to £10,000 plus VAT (£6,000 to £12,000 with VAT)
High complexity case: £10,000 to £30,000 plus VAT (£12,000 to £36,000 with VAT)
Factors that could make the matter more complex include:
- If there is a dispute as to whether there was a dismissal
- If automatic unfair dismissal is alleged (including due to the requirement for a preliminary hearing)
- If there was a long and/or detailed history of relevant events which led to dismissal
- If multiple and/or detailed allegations were made by either party that are relevant to the dismissal
- If there is a lot of documentary evidence
- If there are pertinent witnesses beyond the claimant, a dismissing officer and an appeal officer
- If a party fails to comply with the Tribunals’ directions or otherwise conducts the proceedings in an unreasonable manner
- If there is detailed evidence relating to quantum (compensation), such as in relation to complex remuneration arrangements, pension loss, the availability of new work, the assessment of income from a business set up by the claimant post dismissal, and/or any impact of ill health on the claimant’s ability to work
Other types of employment claim will involve different charges. Please ask us for details.
Disbursements
If the matter proceeds to a Fully Contested Hearing or there is particular complexity to the case which would justify their earlier involvement, we would normally instruct a specialist Employment Law Barrister to attend and represent you at the Employment Tribunal.
The cost of a Barrister will depend upon their level of experience and expertise, and typically for a Final Hearing, their costs can range from approximately £500 plus VAT (£600 with VAT) per day for a very junior barrister and to over £2,000 plus VAT (over £2,400 with VAT) per day for a very senior barrister. It is a policy that payment on account of Barristers fees is made up front and prior to any hearing.
If a medical report is to be obtained in relation to the assessment of compensation, costs can be as low as around £100 plus VAT (£120 with VAT) for obtaining a short report from your GP to in the region of £1,000 to £2,500 plus VAT (£1,200 to £3,000 with VAT) for obtaining a Medico-Legal report from a consultant.
Services Included
The following services and key stages are included within the above indicated fees:-
- taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change);
- entering into ACAS conciliation where this is mandatory to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
- preparing claim or response;
- reviewing and advising on claim or response from other party;
- exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process;
- preparing for and considering a schedule of loss;
- preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing;
- exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents;
- taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses;
- preparing bundle of documents;
- reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
- agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list;
- preparation and attendance at Final Hearing, including instructions to Counsel where necessary,
Timescales
The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during ACAS conciliation, your case is likely to take 1-6 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 20-52 weeks. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.
Civil Litigation & Debt Recovery
If Court proceedings are not issued and in relation to Debt Recovery claims only:
Letter before action to be posted on same day as receipt of instructions received before 2.00pm (for simple debts):£75 plus VAT
Simple debt matter (pre-court advice): approximately £200.00 plus VAT
Complicated matters (extensive advice, correspondence and negotiation) approximately £550.00 plus VAT
For all civil litigation and debt recovery which proceed to contested Court Proceedings, our fee earners will charge no more than £201 per hour plus VAT for all time engaged in the matter in accordance with Court Guideline Rates as set out below.
| Pay band | Fee earner | National grade 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience | £201 | |||||
| B | Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience | £177 | |||||
| C | Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £146 | |||||
| D | Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners | £111 |
Please note that Legal fees incurred in a small claims court are not usually recoverable.
Disbursements
If court proceedings are issued, then court fees will apply. Court fees can be viewed on this GOV.UK page (external link), but we can advise you on these.