We have attempted to cover the fees associated with the most common services here. If you want to know fees for a service not covered here, please Contact Us.
DEALT WITH AT A SINGLE HEARING UNDER PART I OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 AND S89 OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984
We understand that the costs of your case will be important to you and that you receive a meaningful indication of how much you will need to pay. We will always endeavour to agree costs in advance of any case once we have had an opportunity to assess the issues and the level of work and assistance required.
Drink driving cases, failing to provide a specimen, driving with no insurance, driving without due care, speeding, failing to stop for the police, disqualified driving, taxi touting, no insurance, no licence.
We have an experienced in house criminal team who undertake this type of work.
Written Submissions letter or plea in mitigation letter
We will write a letter with your mitigation on your behalf to the court or Police, this does not include any representation at court, our fees for this work starts at £1,000 plus VAT as a fixed fee but may also be charged in accordance with the hourly fee structures below dependent on the applicable fee earner.
The service fees include :
- Assessing the evidence
- Conference with the client virtually or in person
- Taking your Instructions, advising on the plea
- Advice on sentence
- Making writing submissions for you
We can appear for Exceptional Hardship/Mitigation or Guilty plea at court. Single hearing. Trial preparation and advocacy or representation on the day is not covered by this fee.
We will meet with you in advance and take your instructions. We will collate your documents in support and prepare for the hearing. We will also assist you in obtaining representation on the day.
Our fees are charged at the hourly of the legal professional or solicitor assigned to your matter (please see below) or at a fixed-fee which will be charged at the applicable fee earner
The service fees include:
- Reading evidence
- Attending/preparation on you virtually or in person as agreed or necessary
- Advice on likely sentence
- Attendance and representation once at the Magistrates Court.
- Advising you on your plea at court
- Advice on likely sentence
- We will undertake work which includes, letters, telephone calls, emails which are all time charged at a minimum of 6 minutes each , preparation and attendance up to the maximum no of hours agreed in the fixed fee with us
Not Guilty plea trials or a Special Reasons Argument
We will fully prepare your case for trial. We will read and prepare all evidence served. We can take all necessary statements from your witnesses where the fee agreed covers the work required. We will make representations to the CPS where appropriate to try and get them to drop the case before trial. We will deal with the court and apply for adjournments when necessary.
We will deal with disclosure issues that arise during the case such as asking for CCTV for example.
Not included in the fee is the price of any representation on the day or the hiring of any expert. If an expert is necessary, for example an alcohol expert, we will discuss the possible fees in advance and agree these with you.
A special reasons argument is where you have pleaded guilty and seek to persuade the court from not imposing a driving ban. Special reasons can apply to all sorts of driving cases and can result in avoiding the usual sentence which would be expected for such an offence. In particular, a special reasons argument could help you avoid a driving disqualification or points being endorsed on your licence after having been convicted.
Examples such as laced drinks, shortness of distance and driving during a genuine emergency. We will have to obtain disclosure from the CPS, interview you and your witnesses and attend the hearing.
The above cases start from £1500 plus VAT, the more complicated case the higher the fixed-fee will be. If you have multiple or complicated witness issues, you are likely to require more time to carry out the work. If we estimate that we need to do more work, then we will always advise you in advance and quote the fee.
The service fee includes
- Reading the evidence
- Obtaining disclosure
- Meeting with us in advance to provide instructions virtually or in person as agreed or necessary
- Taking witness statements from any witnesses or making enquiries and preparation where the fixed fee hours agreed will allow that additional work
- Reading your supporting documents
If the case is adjourned, then each further hearing or Trial will be from £1,000 plus VAT and again this fee includes representation by an experienced advocate.
The fee for any court attendance, guilty plea hearing, not guilty plea hearing or special reasons hearing/ exceptional hardship does not include:
The Key stages of your case depend on you having advised us correctly about the next hearing and you also have a date for your hearing.
How long a case takes depends on the amount of work involved. A criminal case can often end up taking quite a different shape from that envisaged at the time when it starts. Accordingly, it can be difficult at this early stage to give you an accurate prediction of the time it will take to conclude.
If we have included an advocate within the agreed fee and there is more than one hearing necessary as the case is adjourned on the day that we attend, there will be an additional charge of starting from of £1000 plus VAT for each additional hearing. The fee will be higher if the case is more complicated or more work is required. This will be agreed with you in advance.
Sometimes, if you are facing a very serious allegation with serious consequences or if the case is extremely complex then we will discuss with you in advance acting on an hourly rate basis.
A separate fee has to be agreed for any appeals and necessary work that will have to be carried out.
Guideline hourly rates
| Fee earner | Hourly Rate (ex. VAT chargeable at 20%) | ||
| Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience |
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| Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience |
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| Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £185 p/h | ||
| Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners |
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Guideline hourly rates
| Fee earner | Hourly Rate (ex. VAT chargeable at 20%) | ||
| Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience |
| ||
| Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience |
| ||
| Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience | £244 p/h | ||
| Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners |
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We may quote a fixed fee based on our hourly fee earner hourly rates based on an approximation of the number of hours. Generally, it takes between 4-8 hours of work to complete a general application, however this varies. This means that on average costs are between £500 and £6,000 depending on the application.
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