We offer fixed fee arrangements in summary only Road Traffic Cases and other cases in the Magistrates’ Courts where clients either wish to pay privately or fail the means and/or interests of justice tests for Legal Aid funding.
As to whether the case can be taken on a fixed fee basis is a matter that has to be decided on a case by case basis on the individual merits of each case.
We will be happy to provide a free 15 minutes telephone consultation to advise on whether this firm can assist you on a fixed fee basis.
We presently undertake fixed fee work as follows in road Traffic Cases involving guilty pleas:
A
If the matter is a Guilty plea case in a court in Central London and is likely to be disposed of in one hearing at court:
£350 plus VAT plus any reasonably incurred travel disbursements.
Any additional court appearances, for example for Sentence if your case does not conclude on the day:
£175 plus VAT plus any reasonably incurred travel disbursements per additional hearing.
B
If the matter is a Guilty plea case in a court outside of Central London and is likely to be disposed of in one hearing at court:
£450 plus VAT plus any reasonably incurred travel disbursements.
Any additional court appearances, for example for Sentence if your case does not conclude on the day:
£195 plus VAT plus any reasonably incurred travel disbursements per additional hearing.
The above applies to all summary only motoring offences under Part 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and s89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.
The above fixed fees unless otherwise stated will include:
• Up to 2 hours attendance/preparation including:
o Considering the Prosecution evidence
o Taking your instructions
o Providing advice on plea and likely sentence according to the sentencing options available to the Court
• Attendance and representation at a single hearing at the Magistrates’ Court
• Where appropriate, preliminary advice on whether an exceptional hardship or special reasons argument should be made
• Where appropriate, preliminary advice on whether an Expert should be instructed
The above fixed fees do not include:
• Instruction of any expert witnesses
• Taking statements from any additional witnesses
• Conducting any special reasons hearing beyond initial advice
• Advice or assistance in relation to any subsequent appeal beyond a preliminary indication of whether or not to appeal following your hearing.
We will endeavour to inform you at the start of your case if we can reasonably foresee that any of the above work not included in a fixed fee agreement could be required in your case.
We outline below the key stages you can expect from us in your matter based on the presumption that you have a date for your hearing and you either have or intend to enter a Guilty plea:
• We will obtain and consider the initial details of the prosecution case before your hearing.
• We will meet with you to go through the prosecution evidence, take your instructions and provide advice on evidence, procedure at Court and likely sentence.
• We will advise you if any further preparatory work needs to be undertaken in advance of your hearing and outline any additional fixed costs this may incur, for example if any witness statements need to be taken.
• We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this depends on the court listing for that day.
• We will attend court on the day and meet with you before going before the court. We anticipate being at Court for half a day unless we have advised you otherwise.
• We will discuss the final outcome with you and answer any follow up queries you may have. We will give you our preliminary advice on any appeal.
• We will formally write to you at the conclusion of your case regarding the final outcome and any further steps you may need to take.
If we are unable to offer you a Fixed Fee agreement for your case, we will be happy to provide you with a list of the hourly rates for all of our Solicitors upon request and an estimate as to the total likely cost of your case based on this firm’s experience of other cases of this nature.
Please see the “Our People” section of our website for details of the experience of our Solicitors or feel free to contact us by telephone or email for more information about individual Solicitors.
