The partners and staff at Prime defender group Law have an unshakeable commitment to justice – and part of that is advising you clearly and transparently of the costs of your case.
Whether you are an individual client or a global PLC, we will ensure we explain:
- How our fees will be calculated
- Whether or not we can act for you under a fixed fee or conditional fee agreement (also known as a ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreement)
- How we have estimated our likely fees
- How we have estimated the other costs that you may incur
- What our hourly rates are
- What we will do for you within our estimate
We are able to act under the following arrangements:
Hourly rate
We will tell you our hourly rate and provide an estimate of the amount of time which we consider will be required either to complete the legal work required or in respect of stages of the matter depending on complexity. We are transparent in respect of our charges and will update you frequently on the costs of the matter.
Fixed Fees
It may be that we will be able to offer a fixed fee to complete the legal work required and we will let you know the cost at the outset so that you have certainty in relation to the fees you will have to pay. We offer fixed fees for debt recovery work or the initial stages of a dispute.
Litigation Funding
We have close relationships with a number of litigation funders, who can offer funding for your case in exchange for a share in the recovery. Litigation Funding is typically available in high-value commercial litigation with a value of £1 million or more.
No Win, No Fee
A ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreement – also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement – could be offered in cases with a personal injury element or a professional negligence matter. We would not ordinarily offer these in our commercial work. Before we enter in to a Conditional Fee Agreement, we will need to fully assess your case, by reviewing your documentation and likely spending some time with you in person or on the telephone. This can take time, but our team is experienced in getting to the heart of the issues quickly and would typically be able to give you an answer within seven days. If there will be a charge for the risk assessment (which in cases where the issues are complex, or there are large volumes of documentation) we will let you know. If a barrister is required for your case, we would try and locate a barrister who is also prepared to act under a No Win, No Fee agreement.
Legal Expense Insurance
Some personal and business insurance policies provide cover for legal expenses. We can review your policy and work out if your insurance company will cover your legal fees.
Legal Aid
Our human rights and public law teams often take cases funded by way of Legal Aid and they will be able to advise all new clients as to their eligibility. We do not undertake legally aided work in any other practice area.
Specific Practice Areas – Debt Recovery up to £100,000
When recovering debts of up to £100,000 we typically work to agreed hourly rates, as detailed below, with estimates for each stage of work provided in advance.
If we are acting for you under an hourly rate model, our hourly rates will be very similar to published in the Solicitors’ Guideline Hourly Rates set by HM Courts & Tribunals Service – part of the Ministry of Justice:
| Solicitor with over 8 years’ experience: | £398 ex VAT per hour |
| Solicitor with over 4 years’ experience: | £308 ex VAT per hour |
| Other solicitor or fee earner of equivalent experience: | £260 ex VAT per hour |
| Trainee or paralegal or other similar fee earner | £148 ex VAT per hour |
If we offer you a fixed-fee, typically this would cover the initial stages of work, where we would provide you with advice, document review, a conference and a letter of claim for a fixed-fee. The amount of the fee would be negotiated on a case by case basis. Typically we would charge between £1,500 and £4,000 excluding VAT for this initial work, which would not include the issuing of any claim at court. If we advised you to issue a claim at court, we would provide you an estimate of costs for each stage of work and for the case overall. In some cases we may be able to offer fixed fees, for each stage of work after a claim is issued. More information on the process from issuing a claim, is available in our Litigation Guide.
In larger debt recovery matters, or those with a degree of complexity, we may recommend that you obtain the advice of a barrister, or a barrister is retained for the draft of court documentation. We would instruct a barrister, only with your agreement and when you have been told the costs associated with this instruction. Typically, we would expect barristers in debt cases to charge between £200 and £350 per hour, excluding VAT – but often we would ask a barrister to fix their fee, for a discrete piece of work. If a barrister was involved in the drafting of court documents, we would expect them to charge between £1,500 and £3,500 excluding VAT and dependent on the volume of documentation the barrister has to review and the complexity of the matter.
In addition, a court fee of between £25 and £10,000 will be payable, depending on the value of the debt. More information on court fees can be found here.
Summary Hearings for Motoring Offences
Our Crime and Regulatory team represent people clients in all types of criminal cases. The costs of the case will very much depend on the alleged facts of each case, the characteristics of each client and the facts of their defence case.
For summary-only motoring matters, our overall costs for a single hearing in the Magistrates’ Court will range from £825 plus VAT up to £1,500 plus VAT. This costs range is primarily determined by whether the hearing concludes in half a day (before lunch), or whether it takes a whole day for the case to be heard and concluded. Our costs range will also depend on the experience level of the solicitor attending. We currently have criminal defence solicitors ranging from 5 years PQE (£305 plus VAT per hour) up to 20 years PQE (£395 plus VAT per hour). All travel time is charged at £100 plus VAT per hour, and we also usually charge travel expenses to the client. This is all included within our overall costs estimate range, above.
Please note the above costs cover our attendance advice and advocacy at the Magistrates’ Court hearing. In cases where we are instructed to provide specific advice and /or draft legal representations prior to the Court hearing, or during a police investigation, we will need to provide a bespoke costs estimate.