Guideline Hourly Rates
Our charges are based on the time we spend in dealing with a case. Time spent on your affairs will include meeting with you and perhaps others; any time spent travelling; considering, preparing and working on papers, correspondence and making and receiving telephone calls.
The current hourly rates of our solicitors and fee earners unless otherwise agreed, are as follows: – We are in London band 3 because our office is in outer London SE15
GRADE |
FEE EARNER |
LONDON BAND 3 RATE |
A |
Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience: |
£282 |
B |
Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience: |
£232 |
C |
Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience: |
£185 |
D |
Trainee Solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners: |
£129 |
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Routine letters that we write, and routine telephone calls that we make and receive will be charged at 10% of the hourly rate of the solicitor acting for you. For example, if a senior solicitor is working on your file at a rate of £282.00 per hour and writes a routine letter, the charge for this will be £28.20. Long letters (exceeding one A4 page) and long telephone calls will be charged on a time basis at 50% of the hourly rate. For example, if a senior solicitor working at a rate of £282.00 per hour spends an hour writing a long letter on your behalf, the fee for writing this letter will be £141.00. Routine letters received will be charged at 3 minutes per page. If your instructions mean that we have to work outside normal office hours, we reserve the right to increase the level of the hourly rates. You will be notified in writing of any increased rate.
Our fixed fees are usually based on the estimated time to be spent on a case. Thus, for example, the fixed fee for a matter that will not exceed two hours will be £500 and a fixed fee for a matter that will not exceed four hours will be £1000.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
- There may be certain other expenses (‘disbursements’), including payments we make on your behalf, such as Court/Tribunal Fees, Medical Report Fees, Inquiry Agents charges and Barristers fees, which you will have to pay. VAT is payable on certain expenses. There are other minor disbursements such as bank charges, land registry fees, Courier delivery, Travel costs and large quantity of photocopying, Facsimile or E-mail transmissions (sent or received) and archiving. We will ask you to pay these on account (i.e. before we incur them), which is normal practice. All disbursements will be shown separately on your Bill of Costs.
- As a VAT registered firm, our charges are subject to VAT. The current VAT rate is 20% as set by the HMRC. Our fees for work carried out for a client without leave to remain in the UK will not usually attract VAT. It is worthy to note that VAT rate may change in accordance with guidelines which may be issued by the HMRC.
- We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example, due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances significantly change during the course of the matter). We will also inform you of its estimated cost in writing before any extra charges or expenses are incurred.
- Payment on Account: – It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following months or weeks. This helps to avoid delay in the progress of their case.
- Interest: Adukus Solicitors will pay you interest on the money you pay to us on account of costs and expenses until it is used unless it is a relatively small amount or is used within a short time of receipt.
Conditional Fee Agreements
In Personal Injury and Civil litigation matters we may use a conditional fee agreement (CFA)/damages -based agreement (DBA). This type of agreement is commonly known as “No Win No Fee”. We will assess the viability of your case before agreeing to accept it. This means that if you win the case you will be charged at the end of the matter plus success fee on occasion from your compensation. We may request that you pay disbursements upfront. However, agreements are negotiated at inception. Mostly we put forth our model CFA.
Please be advised that if you are not successful in your claim, although you may not have to pay us our legal fees, you may have to pay the cost of the other party in the proceedings.