What you pay for the services that you receive from us will depend upon, and is more fully explained in the type of agreement that we have entered into with you, and which accompanies this information on costs.
Where we have entered into a NON-CONTENTIOUS BUSINESS AGREEMENT:
you pay us nothing unless, and until, we recover Compensation (or annul or avoid any contract that obligates you or debt that is being enforced against you, depending upon the nature of your instructions). However, if you abandon instructions or are otherwise in breach of your agreement with us, you will be liable to pay us our fees for the time which we have spent on your matter, at the hourly rates stated in the agreement.
Where your case succeeds, we shall be entitled to charge you a fee which shall be equivalent to the percentage of the Compensation which we recover for you as stated in the agreement (or percentage of the monies which you owed and which we have saved you or annulled or avoided any contract you that obligates you or debt that is being enforced against you, depending upon the nature of your instructions).
We shall be entitled to deduct that fee from the Compensation which you are entitled to receive, and you shall be liable to us for it (if you receive any monies directly, in breach of the agreement). You may additionally be liable, as stated in the agreement for interest at 8% per annum on any outstanding fees and expenses if you do not pay us, and for our costs and expenses in claiming payment from you.
We may incur expenses (“disbursements”) as the case progresses, which we nave notified you of in the agreement (or may subsequently notify you of). Unless otherwise stated in the accompanying letter, you will be liable to pay us these before we incur them. Very few expenses are incurred in non-contentious work, as there are usually no fees charged by regulatory or other bodies for bringing a complaint or claim..
We will incur court fees, if we seek pre-issue disclosure from your opponent, or third party disclosure (the court orders them to disclose the information you are seeking). You may have to pay modest expenses for obtain copies of agreements or other documentation relating to your Claim, which we shall defer until the conclusion of your claim or complaint.
Our fees and expenses are not ordinarily recoverable from your opponent if your case succeeds (although we will advise you as the case progresses what you may be able to recover if that is not the case).
Similarly, you are not at risk of paying your opponents costs and expenses if your claim or complaint does not succeed.
Where we have entered into a CONDITIONAL FEE AGREEMENT:
you pay us nothing unless, and until, we recover Compensation (or annul or avoid any contract that obligates you or debt that is being enforced against you, depending upon the nature of your instructions). However, if you abandon instructions or are otherwise in breach of your agreement with us, you will be liable to pay us our fees for the time which we have spent on your matter, at the hourly rates stated in the agreement.
Where your case succeeds, we shall be entitled to charge you a fee for the work which we have undertaken on your claim at the hourly rates stated in the agreement (less any costs which we have recovered from your opponent). This amount shall be subject to an uplift of 100% (a “success fee”) in compensation for the risk that we will receive nothing if your case does not succeed in bringing your claim, and the deferment of our fees until the conclusion of your claim. That uplift is subject to a statutory cap of 50% of the Compensation which you receive. We further voluntarily cap our fees at 40% plus VAT of the Compensation which you receive (unless your claim is issued and brought before the County Courts when costs cannot generally be recovered from your opponent when it will be capped at 40% plus VAT of your Compensation).
We shall be entitled to deduct that fee from the Compensation which you are entitled to receive, and you shall be liable to us for it (if you receive any monies directly, in breach of the agreement). You may additionally be liable, as stated in the agreement for interest at 8% per annum on any outstanding fees and expenses if you do not pay us, and for our costs and expenses in claiming payment from you.
We may incur expenses (“disbursements”) as the case progresses, which we have notified you of in the agreement (or may subsequently notify you of). You are liable for the expenses which we incur whether your claim succeeds or not but, unless stated to the contrary in the accompanying letter, we will ordinarily defer payment by you until the conclusion of the case (except for court fees or unless you are in breach of the agreement).
We will incur court fees and costs of subsequent stages of proceedings, if we have to issue proceedings (which hopefully can be avoided) Clients in receipt of certain benefits or who are of very limited income are entitled to remission of court fees. You will need to complete the remissions form (with our assistance) for submission to the court office. We are not entitled to recover court fees from your opponent where you do not co-operate with the completion of this form or submit it to the court. We shall be entitled to deduct the cost of such fees from your Compensation, and charge you for such fees in any event, where that is the case. We reserve the right to ask for prior payment of court fees before incurring them.
Where your claim succeeds (or your opponent’s claim succeeds) the successful party can only claim their costs and expenses if proceedings have been issued (although we will try and negotiate payment of some part of them in any settlement). No costs, and only very limited disbursements, can be reclaimed where your claim is for less than £10,000, and is allocated to what is known as the ‘small claims track’ unless you (or your opponent) are held by the court to have behaved unreasonably. For claims in excess of that amount the successful party will be awarded costs at court rates, which are likely to meet only a proportion of their solicitor’s fees. Most disbursements, including court fees are recoverable by a successful party. Your lawyer will advise you in more detail on costs as the case progresses, and particularly before issue.
Where we have entered into a HIGHER FEE/LOWER FEE AGREEMENT:
you pay is for the work which we do at the lower hourly rate(s) stated in the agreement where your claim does not succeed. We may have requested in the accompanying letter payment on account of the work which we are proposing to do or the expenses which we anticipate incurring, which is placed in client until we have done that work and issued an interim or final bill.
Where your claim succeeds you will pay us at the higher hourly rate(s) stated in the agreement for the work which we have done, and we shall be entitled to the difference between the two at the conclusion of the case (less costs which we have recovered from your opponent).
However, if you abandon instructions or are otherwise in breach of your agreement with us, you will be liable to pay us our fees for the time which we have spent on your matter, at the ordinary hourly rate(s) stated in the agreement. This will be payable within 14 days of termination of agreement.
We shall be entitled to deduct that fee from the Compensation which you are entitled to receive, and you shall be liable to us for it (if you receive any monies directly, in breach of the agreement). You may additionally be liable, as stated in the agreement for interest at 8% per annum on any outstanding fees and expenses if you do not pay us, and for our costs and expenses in claiming payment from you.
We may incur expenses (“disbursements”) as the case progresses, which we have notified you of in the agreement (or may subsequently notify you of). You are liable for the expenses which we incur whether your claim succeeds or not but, unless stated to the contrary in the accompanying letter. We may ask you to pay for these on account prior to incurring them.
We will incur court fees and costs of subsequent stages of proceedings, if we have to issue proceedings (which hopefully can be avoided) Clients in receipt of certain benefits or who are of very limited income are entitled to remission of court fees. You will need to complete the remissions form (with our assistance) for submission to the court office. We are not entitled to recover court fees from your opponent where you do not co-operate with the completion of this form or submit it to the court. We shall be entitled to deduct the cost of such fees from your Compensation, and charge you for such fees in any event, where that is the case. We reserve the right to ask for prior payment of court fees before incurring them.
Where your claim succeeds (or your opponent’s claim succeeds) the successful party can only claim their costs and expenses if proceedings have been issued (although we will try and negotiate payment of some part of them in any settlement). No costs, and only very limited disbursements, can be reclaimed where your claim is for less than £10,000, and is allocated to what is known as the ‘small claims track’ unless you (or your opponent) are held by the court to have behaved unreasonably. For claims in excess of that amount the successful party will be awarded costs at court rates, which are likely to meet only a proportion of their solicitor’s fees. Most disbursements, including court fees are recoverable by a successful party. Your lawyer will advise you in more detail on costs as the case progresses, and particularly before issue.
Where we have entered into an ESTIMATED FEE AGREEMENT:
you pay is for the work which we do at the hourly rate(s) stated in the agreement. We have given an estimate of likely costs by comparison to matters of similar nature. We may have requested in the accompanying letter payment on account of the work which we are proposing to do or the expenses which we anticipate incurring, which is placed in client until we have done that work and issued an interim or final bill.
We shall be entitled to deduct that fee from the Compensation which you are entitled to receive, and you shall be liable to us for it (if you receive any monies directly, in breach of the agreement). You may additionally be liable, as stated in the agreement for interest at 8% per annum on any outstanding fees and expenses if you do not pay us, and for our costs and expenses in claiming payment from you.
We may incur expenses (“disbursements”) as the case progresses, which we have notified you of in the agreement (or may subsequently notify you of). You are liable for the expenses which we incur whether your claim succeeds or not but, unless stated to the contrary in the accompanying letter. We may ask you to pay for these on account prior to incurring them.
We will incur court fees and costs of subsequent stages of proceedings, if we have to issue proceedings (which hopefully can be avoided) Clients in receipt of certain benefits or who are of very limited income are entitled to remission of court fees. You will need to complete the remissions form (with our assistance) for submission to the court office. We are not entitled to recover court fees from your opponent where you do not co-operate with the completion of this form or submit it to the court. We shall be entitled to deduct the cost of such fees from your Compensation, and charge you for such fees in any event, where that is the case. We reserve the right to ask for prior payment of court fees before incurring them.
Where your claim succeeds (or your opponent’s claim succeeds) the successful party can only claim their costs and expenses if proceedings have been issued (although we will try and negotiate payment of some part of them in any settlement). No costs, and only very limited disbursements, can be reclaimed where your claim is for less than £10,000, and is allocated to what is known as the ‘small claims track’ unless you (or your opponent) are held by the court to have behaved unreasonably. For claims in excess of that amount the successful party will be awarded costs at court rates, which are likely to meet only a proportion of their solicitor’s fees. Most disbursements, including court fees are recoverable by a successful party. Your lawyer will advise you in more detail on costs as the case progresses, and particularly before issue.
Where we have entered into a FIXED FEE AGREEMENT:
you pay us the fee stated in the agreement, either upon instruction or, if we have agreed to accept staged payments, prior to embarking upon each stage.
We may have additionally indicated the expenses which we are likely to incur in doing the work for (“disbursements”) which are payable on account prior to our incurring them in each instance.
We will rarely enter into full instructions upon such a basis, and will not give your opponent notice of acting, or formally represent you in proceedings. Under such an agreement we will ordinary only provide what are known as ‘unpackaged services’ – that is only undertake the specific matters stated in the agreement, and will not provide general advice and guidance on the matter, only the things we have agreed to do.
In each retainer, terms of payment are subject to your having no Before the Event Insurance (BTE) or legal expenses cover under any membership or professional or trade affiliation (subject always to the insurer or organisation accepting liability for your costs at a reasonable rate). Your are asked to complete the Funding Checks form which accompanies this information, and referred to the section on BTE cover in the agreement.