The fees set out below would not include any further work, such as dealing with any defended debt (whether through litigation, negotiation or any alternative means of dispute resolution), any enforcement of a judgment, insolvency proceedings, any ancillary applications (such as an application to strike out or amend), any counter-claim or any appeal.

We charge an hourly rate for our services. The hourly rates of our solicitors vary, as do the number of hours required to recover a debt. Dispute resolution is inherently unpredictable, and each debt and debtor are unique. To give you an indication of our likely fees associated with the work set out above under the heading “What is included”, we set out below example fee estimates for matters of varying complexity:

• Low complexity – from £2,000 to £4,000
• Mid complexity – from £4,000 to £7,500
• High complexity – in excess of £7,500 – £15,000
• The following factors are likely to increase the complexity of the matter:
• The debtor having a defence, counterclaim or a right of set off.
• There being multiple parties to the recovery action.
• The debt having been assigned or factored.
• The debtor appointing solicitors.
• A higher-value debt.
• The debtor being based overseas.
• The debtor being hard to locate.
• The debtor being hard to serve.
• The legal or factual basis for the debt being complicated, disputed or unclear.
• You being unfamiliar with litigation in the English courts.
• In addition to our fees, you will need to budget for some or all of the following:
• VAT at the rate of 20%
• Instructing a barrister to represent you in court.
• Instructing a process server to serve your claim on the debtor.
• Instructing overseas legal advisers to advise on any elements governed by matters of foreign law.
• Instructing finding agents to locate hard-to-find debtors.
• Court fees for starting proceedings and at other stages in the litigation process. The court fees for starting proceedings range from £25 to £10,000, depending on the value of the claim.

We would usually discuss these additional third-party costs and services (known as disbursements) with you in advance and incur those costs on your behalf when necessary. You are responsible for these costs, though we would usually handle their payment for you to ensure a smoother process and add these costs to your invoice.

The figures indicated are exclusive of VAT at the rate of 20%.

Each matter is unique, and a bespoke quote will be provided once we are better acquainted with the specifics of your case.

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees, and do not make up our legal fee. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process, but may require you to put us into funds in order to do so.

Disbursements will vary from matter to matter, but in a typical matter we would expect to see some of the following disbursements.

► Court fees;
► Counsel fees;
► Process server fees;
► Tracing Agent fees; or
► Land Registry fees.

Below is an example of court fees that could apply to issue court proceedings and seek a Judgment in default in respect of the sums due to you:-

Matters usually take 4– 6 weeks from receipt of instructions from you to receipt of payment from the other side, following a letter before action being sent. if payment is not forthcoming and it becomes necessary to issue a money claim through the County Court then the time scale from instructions will be longer than stated above and will be dependent on a variety of factors, including the business of the Court.

We reserve the right to revise the fees estimated above upon receipt and consideration of the papers, and to revert to an hourly charging rate upon notification to you of an overall cost estimate, including VAT at 20% and disbursements (payments to third parties).

• Fee Earner Rates
• Partners £375 – £450
• Solicitors £295 – £350
• Barristers £350
• Legal Consultants £300 – £350
• Trainee Solicitors £175 to £195
• Paralegals and Legal Assistants – £175
• All hourly rates are exclusive of VAT at the rate of 20%

Unlike many law firms when we say a matter is partner or barrister led, we mean partner or barrister led. When clients work with us, they get constant access to the lead on their instruction. Yes, we also have a team of solicitors and juniors who provide support for some of the groundwork and necessary research required by our clients where it makes financial sense to the client for us to do this. We provide constant contact at no extra cost as part of our service as most of our lawyers have their own business, so they know first-hand how important having a proactive, responsible and trusted adviser on their side can be.

Details of the lawyers who undertake and supervise this work can be found here.