Costs

All Judge and Priestley costs are assessed on an hourly charge-out rate. Your charge-out rate is given in the Dispute Resolution Department Notes.

Our Fee-earners’ charge-out rates are as follows:

• Paul Stevens, Solicitor/Partner  – £225 per hour plus VAT and disbursements.
• Laura Williams, Litigation Assistant Solicitor - £200 per hour plus VAT and disbursements;
• Jackie Panayiotou, administrative assistant - £90 per hour plus VAT and disbursements.

We charge in 6 minute units i.e. if the charge-out rate is £200 per hour plus VAT and disbursements, the unit charge is £20 plus VAT.

We invoice monthly with a print-out of the broad headings of the time spent, to show you how we calculated these costs.  You can ask us about what we did to incur the cost, but you should do so straight away and we will discuss it.

We ask you to pay in 30 days. Our Invoice Collections Department will usually send you a reminder after about 37 days from the date of the invoice.

This is called the monthly retainer.

LEGAL EXPENSES INSURANCE

These may be contained in buildings, contents, motor vehicle, business, employment or other insurance policies you may have taken out.  You should check these thoroughly to see if you have such cover, and if necessary, talk to your insurer.

AFTER THE EVENT POLICIES

These are offered by some insurers, who, for a premium, may cover some disbursements and the risk of adverse costs liability. We have a broker, who can identify insurers who may be willing to take on your action. I may discuss this with you once I have considered the case, if it is appropriate to do so. The insurer’s premium on granting such a policy, cannot be recovered from the losing party, under a costs order.

CONDITIONAL FEE AGREEMENTS (CFA) or PARTIAL CONDITIONAL FEE AGREEMENTS

This is a special type of agreement where the solicitor’s costs are payable upon the successful outcome of the case. If successful, the solicitor is entitled to charge a success fee in addition to the normal rate. In a partial CFA you pay a reduced rate and are invoiced for such. The balance of the normal hourly rate plus a success fee is only payable on the successful outcome of the case. A contribution to the ordinary fees is usually recoverable from the opposing party, under any costs order that may be made if we win. We cannot recover the success fee. It is our decision as to whether to act on a CFA basis. The costs of considering whether a case is suitable for a CFA are payable by the Client unless otherwise agreed.

PUBLIC FUNDING (Legal Aid),

If you qualify financially and your matter is in a category offered by the Legal Services Commission. You can check your eligibility on the Legal Services Commission’s website www.legalservices.gov.uk. We do not undertake public funding work.