Civil Litigation Solicitor As solicitors it is, of course, our responsibility to formulate your case in the best light in which it can reasonably be presented, in accordance, of course, with our professional ethical obligations and to advise you of your options and the likely consequences of electing for the different choices available to you.
It is your responsibility to give us full instructions on all the relevant facts of the case and give us all relevant documents. If you are not certain whether something is relevant or not, you should tell us. It goes without saying that if you do not tell us something or give us a relevant document, which turns out in the event to be important, that it may jeopardise your chances of a successful outcome of your case.
So far as the cost of the case is concerned we would first remind you to check your insurance policies, for example your household contents policy, to see whether you may be covered for legal costs. You could also take out an "after the event" insurance policy if you have no alternative relevant insurances. This is likely to cost somewhere in the order of 15-20% of the cover which you buy against the risk of paying legal costs and may be recoverable from your opponent if you win your case.
If insurance does cover you then please remember that it is your responsibility to deal with your insurers and that you will remain liable to pay my firm's charges in full. Therefore if there is any shortfall between what they pay and my firm's charges then it will be your responsibility. It will not be possible to work out in advance what that shortfall might be but you should check how much cover has been given and consider whether it is sufficient. If you are not sure then you should liaise with your insurers to increase the level of cover. As legal costs insurers are notoriously difficult to deal with we may ask you for money generally on account and we may withdraw from the case if this is not paid.
Our firm aims to offer a flexible costing structure and we are very happy to quote for specific tasks. If we have quoted for the work you will, on acceptance, be called upon to pay in advance.
Where, either we have not quoted or the work falls outside of the quoted task, we currently charge £261 per hour plus VAT. Letters sent, received and short telephone calls are, as per standard modern professional practice, charged at 6 minute units. Time spent will also be calculated on the basis of 6 minute units. Mileage will be charged at the rate of 45p per mile plus VAT.
If, at the end of the case, we are successful you may obtain an order so that the other side pay your costs and it may therefore be necessary to have your costs drawn up in the specialised and complicated way which the court requires for an inter partes costs bill. If this happens it will be necessary for me to instruct a Legal Costs Draughtsman and I shall charge the above rate for the time which he spends in preparing the bill.
I shall also ask you for all other expenses which I incur on your behalf (disbursements) and Counsel's fees to be paid in advance of them being incurred by this firm. Naturally, if either the disbursements or any bills rendered are not paid promptly, we do reserve the right to withdraw from the case and to cease acting for you and, where appropriate, interest at 10% p.a. may be payable on outstanding invoices from 30 days after the date of the invoice until payment. My firm will also be entitled to exercise its lien over all case papers and so retain them until payment of all monies owed to my firm is made.
Whereas until 26th April 1999, when the new Civil Procedure Rules were introduced, you could reasonably expect to recover most, if not all, of the costs of litigation, the situation is now much more uncertain.
Despite this we usually expect that, if you are successful in your case, your opponent will be ordered to pay a contribution to our charges and, therefore, alternatively we may, entirely at our discretion, vary our charges to accord with what is recoverable from your opponent.
Naturally, however, if your case is allocated to the "Small Claims Track" this will not apply, as costs are not generally recoverable on a case which has been allocated to the Small Claims Track.
You should also note that if the case is allocated to the so called "Fast Track", there may not be a full recovery of costs from the other side, but it will not usually be possible in advance to tell how much shortfall there will be.
As there is no certainty as to the course that the case will take, it is not possible to realistically quote or to give an accurate estimate of the total cost of the case. We can however keep this under review as the case progresses. Where possible I will happily agree with you in advance the costs of specific actions. On top of this figure you should also note that there will be VAT at the current rate and there may be court fees, counsel's fees and expert's fees, together with any disbursements (out of pocket expenses).
In most cases solicitors are now permitted by law to work on a conditional or "no win no fee" basis. In all permitted cases my firm is very happy to work on this basis.
Contact Us You can contact us on 01277 896 000 . Alternatively, you can contact us by visiting the Contact Us page.
