Our Prices

In certain circumstances you may be eligible for legal aid and if you are, we can help you apply. That said, it’s unlikely that you’ll get legal aid if you’re charged with what’s known as a ‘summary only’ offence.

These are cases that can only be heard in Magistrates court, such as:

• Speeding
• Failing to stop after an accident
• Driving without insurance
• Driving a vehicle whilst over the prescribed limit for alcohol or drugs
• Failing to provide a specimen
• Careless driving
• Driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence

In these instances we charge by the hour and these costs are outlined below:

• Partner = £250 per/hour plus vat at 20%  (£300 inclusive of VAT)
• Solicitor = £220 per/hour plus vat at 20% (£264 inclusive of VAT) 
• Non-qualified staff = £150 p/hour plus vat at 20% (£180 inclusive of VAT) 

Key Stages

• Initial requests for information or documentation from a prosecuting agent such as the police.
• Responding to such a request
• Receiving a court date and obtaining the evidence so that we can advise you on plea
• Attending (in person, remotely or by correspondence) the plea hearing
• Attending a trial, contested hearing such as exceptional hardship/special reasons or sentence hearing
• Advice on appeal – many people approach us after they have been convicted and sentenced.  We can provide a review of the case and provide advice on the merits of an appeal.
• Cases have their own facts and circumstances. We can offer our services on a fixed fees basis, but we'll take into consideration the complexity of the case to assess your plea. 

The fee does not include:

instruction of any expert witnesses

taking statements from any witnesses

advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing

advice or assistance in relation to any appeal

Timescales 

• For guilty plea cases, this will depending on the court date for the final hearing. For not guilty pleas the average timespan is 3- 6 months.

If it transpires that your case can be dealt with on a fixed basis, then our costs for summary only motoring offences are as follows:

• One hearing for a guilty plea and mitigation or first attendance  entering not guilty plea and arranging a trial date, our fixed fee ranges from £500-£1000 +VAT (£600-£1,200 inclusive of VAT)
• Attendance at a single hearing to deal with a guilty plea and mitigation. Where the court is over 30 minutes from our nearest office, our fixed fee ranges from £750-£5,000 + vat (900-£6,000 inclusive of VAT)
• Exceptional hardship hearings/summary trial from £1,250 + vat -£5,000 plus vat (£1,500-£6,000 inclusive of VAT) per day depending on the location in the country

The costs above are based on an approximation of three hours preparation and attendance time, in addition to representing you at one court hearing.

The fixed fee does not include:

• instruction of any expert witnesses
• taking statements from any witnesses
• advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing
• advice or assistance in relation to any appeal

Disbursements

• In addition to the costs outlined above we will also charge for mileage (45p per mile) and parking.
• On occasion it might be necessary to travel by train and incur an overnight stay.  Both of these will be discussed on a case specific basis and agreed with you in advance.

Expert reports

• Certain cases will require us to engage the service of an expert (for example in an allegation of excess alcohol we might need to get a back calculation done) we have access to a great number of experts and will always discuss options and pricing with you in advance.
• VAT will be at the current rate as set by the government, currently 20%

In the event that we act on a fixed fee basis on your behalf at the first hearing and your case is adjourned to another date, for a sentence hearing, a trial or a special reasons/exceptional hardship argument, for example our hourly rates may apply for any subsequent hearings, dependent on the complexities of the case but, in general, the figures above are applied. You'll be fully advised on any differential in advance of costs being incurred.

If you’d like to discuss a fixed fee option that isn’t defined above, we’d be happy to discuss your case with you. Our team is vastly experienced in these types of offences, having had success at all levels, including Appeal. 

Many so called expert firms simply take your instructions and brief a Barrister to conduct the hearings for you on a fixed fee at a fraction of the fee you've paid. Unlike these firms, we won’t farm out your case to a third party; we're qualified to appear in both the Magistrates and Crown Court for Appeals, so call us to find out how we can help you.