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Initial telephone or email advice is always free of charge.
We cannot give a comprehensive or guaranteed list of prices on this site. The main reason most solicitors do not give price lists on their sites is because cases of the same type can vary enormously in complexity and it would not be fair to give a potential client the expectation of one price, and then to be forced to ask for three or four times as much.
Because of this, this page only gives a short list of fixed fees, and an idea of the basis on which we can calculate our fees. If you contact us for advice we will give you a more detailed estimate related to your case as soon as we understand the issues.
We do not carry out Legal Aid work. If you are an individual on a low income you may be entitled to assistance with the costs of your representation. You can locate legal aid providers through the Law Society’s Solicitor Finder.
With regard to the upcoming VAT increase we will not be changing the prices you can expect to pay on fixed fees but will reduce our own charges so that we can continue to provide manageable and clear bills and quotations.
Fixed Fee Appointments
Initial Appointments: at our offices - £50 (including VAT)
Alternate venue (within London undergrounds zones 1&2) - £150 (including VAT)
Application checking service: £100 (including VAT) (to peruse up to 25 pages of an application you have prepared yourself)
General Advice Appointment for an existing or past client: £100.00 (including VAT)
One off prison visits within 10 miles: £300.00 (including VAT)
Methods of Paying for Representation
We have four basic arrangements for fees;
1. Hourly rate cases
2. Fixed Fees
3. Conditional Fees (no win no fee)
4. Retainers
(It is not legal for us to agree to act for you on the basis that we will keep a percentage of the amount that we recover on your behalf. )
With each of our fee structures our intention is to recover £200 an hour for our work.
1) Hourly Rate Cases
This is the traditional way solicitors work. We ask you to pay us money on account. We then hold this money in a separate account in your name. Once we have done work on your behalf we send you a bill and move a corresponding amount of money across into our office account.
Our standard hourly charge is £200 plus VAT and this will form the basis of our fees on hourly rate cases.
We cannot offer credit, and will always expect money on account before we do any work for you. If you are able to provide a guarantor we may be able to agree a more flexible basis for our charges and reduce the initial deposit.
Although we can give you costs estimates when we adopt this approach, it does not ensure you a fixed price, and if the unexpected occurs, we may have to revise the estimate, and obtain your approval before continuing.
From our point of view this traditional approach can be problematic because it delays our ability to use the money to meet our own expenses, and also because there is always a level on uncertainty about what the final costs will be, it is however an effective means of ensuring that we are paid an amount that corresponds with the time spent on your case.
2) Fixed Fees
We offer a number of fixed fees depending on the complexity of a case. There are a number of advantages for you and for us in this approach.
Essentially we offer to perform a defined service for a fixed price. We often offer to prepare visa applications for £500, but we always state that the price would not include appealing against any decision. Applications under the points based systems or complex Entry Clearance Applications cost more, often £700, and there are premiums for including dependants now that it is often necessary to complete multiple application forms.
Fixed fee packages can also be used to allow you to pay for us to help with a small part of your case; we might agree to draft a divorce petition, which can be a complex legal task, but leave you to deal with the task of serving that petition on the court and dealing with subsequent correspondence.
If you enter a fixed fee agreement with us we will ask for the money up front and issue you a bill immediately. You need to be aware that due to legal restrictions the fixed fee is not refundable even if you subsequently decide not to proceed.
To offset this risk to you we calculate our fixed fees in such a way that there is a real possibility that we will recover less than £240 an hour for our services.
Sample fixed fees for simple straightforward matters which we offer include
• Entry Clearance Visa Applications - £500-£700 (including VAT)
• Simple grounds of Appeal to a Tribunal - £150 (including VAT)
• Representation at a Tribunal Hearing - £420 (Including VAT)
• Drafting a simple contract of employment -£150 (including VAT)
• Checking applications you have prepared yourself - £100 (including VAT)
(More complicated cases of any type might result in significantly higher fees.)
3) Conditional Fees
In some limited circumstances we may agree to act on the basis that we will only be paid in the event that the case is successful. We only offer these fees in money claim cases.
4) Retainer
Regular Commercial Customers may find it is easier simply to pay us a fixed amount monthly for a standard package of services such as outsourced HR functions. This gives you the advantage of knowing what your outgoings will be, knowing that you can always refer matters to us and gives us the advantage of a regular income.
Additional Expenses
We will normally ask you to pay the costs of any reasonable expenses we incur in the course of your case. This could include interpreting fees, photocopying costs, travel expenses etc. If you have agreed a fixed fee with us you should make sure you have a clear understanding of exactly what it covers.
VAT
We are obliged to charge VAT. You should ensure you understand whether VAT is included in any quote we give you and any agreement we make with regard to our charges. Our VAT registration number is 974 7723 71.
Reasonable Costs
This section is one that you will want to pay close attention to because it sets out some of your legal protections.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority's rules make it clear that we can only issue bills that are ‘reasonable’.
This means that any bill we give you should be consistent with the information we have given you regarding costs before starting work, and commensurate with any underlying hourly rate that we have advised you we would charge. If the bill is not consistent with those estimates then it would be unreasonable.
If you are unsure about the amount we have charged you please check your client care letter carefully, and any subsequent correspondence you have received from us with regards to expenses.
You can query your bill with us, and if you are still not satisfied you have a month to apply for a remuneration certificate or a court assessment of costs. You can get extra information on this from the Legal Complaints Service.
You should be aware that our underlying hourly rate is relatively low for a firm in our location, and that if we issue a bill that is commensurate with an initial estimate of costs that we give you and which you agree to, it is likely that our bill will be considered to be reasonable.
Paying Us
Our preference is to be paid by cheque. We can accept payment in cash of up to £300 at a time but due to our obligations under money laundering regulations we need to be able to clearly identify the source of any money paid to us. If you are going to have a friend or relative pay your fees on your behalf we will need to see evidence of their identity and address and satisfy ourselves that the money has come from a legitimate source. If we cannot identify the source of monies paid to us we have obligations under money laundering rules which we will have to consider carefully and which can oblige us to make reports to the appropriate authority. | 
