We understand that the costs of becoming involved in a dispute for parties can be expensive.
If you have suffered financial loss and if we believe your case has good prospects of success, but you are experiencing cash flow difficulties, we have a number of options available in which disputes can be funded.
We are happy to discuss and work out arrangements which are best suited to a client’s particular case.
Private Funding / Hourly Billing
In most cases we are able to offer either a fixed fee or hourly charge rate for legal costs and you will only pay for the services that you receive. We will provide you with a quotation before any work starts and also at each step of the way to trial. You will receive regular statements setting out the costs incurred to date and the work that has been done. At the outset, we will require an initial payment on account, which will vary from case to case.
Conditional Fee Agreement
A Conditional Fee Agreement is a ‘No Win, No Fee’ legal funding arrangement between you and the Firm under which you agree to pay our fees only if you win and receive compensation. If the case is lost, you won’t be liable to pay for our legal fees. In the unlikely event that the claim should fail, you may end up having to pay the opponent’s costs. We would therefore advise you to take out an After the Event (‘ATE’) policy so you are in no way disadvantaged and we would arrange this cover for you.
If you win, all fees will be covered by the compensation awarded to you. You would pay our costs/fees once we have these assessed, plus the agreed success fee. Due to changes to Conditional Fee Agreements implemented in April 2013, the ‘success fee’ element of legal costs can no longer be recovered from the Defendant and therefore the success fee will be payable by you and deduction from of your compensation amount.
Damages Based Agreement
A Damages Based Agreement (‘DBA’) is a private funding arrangement where we would share the risk of litigation with you.
There are no hourly rates or fixed fees. Our agreed fee is contingent upon the success of your case and is determined as a percentage of the compensation received by you.
Under a DBA, we will agree to be paid an agreed percentage of any sums/damages that are recovered from the Defendant if the case is won. There will be a cap on the charges under the Damages Based Agreement of the combined sums you recover.
The legal costs incurred in your case will be recoverable against the Defendant (reasonable hourly rates and disbursements). If the assessed costs are higher than the amount chargeable under the DBA, the Defendant only has to pay the lower figure due to the indemnity principle and there is nothing further for you to pay i.e. the costs you claim from the Defendant cannot exceed the amount you have agreed to pay us.
If you lose your case, you do not have to pay us any legal fees except for out of pocket expenses/disbursements.
If using experts as part of your case under a CFA or DBA, such as medical experts, surveyors or accountants, they may be unwilling to defer the payment of their fees. The costs for additional expertise may not be covered in your agreement.
Litigation Funding
Litigation funding, also known as third-party funding is an arrangement where the costs and expenses incurred by a party to a dispute are funded by a third-party funder, which has no connection with the dispute, in return for a share of the damages recovered.
Litigation Funding can provide access to justice for under-resourced parties enabling them to pursue proceedings which they would otherwise be prevented from doing so, or assist businesses which are experiencing financial difficulties.
The advantage of third party funding for a business is that it can retain its cash to continue to fund the business operations and transfer the risk of claims to the third party funder.
A third party funder can pay some or all of the costs/expenses associated with a dispute in return for a share of the proceeds of the dispute if it is successful.
If the litigation is not successful, the funder bears the costs it has agreed to fund.
After The Event Insurance (ATE)
After The Event Insurance policies are designed to protect you against having to pay your opponent’s costs if you lose at trial or settle after the defendant has incurred costs which you are liable to pay. ATE insurance is available to both Claimants and Defendants.
The merits of the case will be assessed by the insurer and if the insurer agrees your case has good prospects of success (around 60% or more), the insurer will pay these costs if you lose.
Since April 2013, the ATE premium is no longer recoverable from the losing party and will be paid out of the damages awarded to you. The premium for the ATE policy will be deferred and payable by you the end of the case, if you win. If you lose, the premium does not have to be paid.
Immigration
Your work will be carried out by experienced Case Workers under the direct supervision of Principal Solicitors, Claire Lines and Nadeem Malik.
Our UK visa fees policy is fair, transparent, and simple to understand.
Initial Consultation
Your initial will take approximately 60 minutes to complete. We will discuss your circumstances and decide the most appropriate application or options available to you,
We will charge an hourly rate for the initial consultation of £200.00 plus VAT to review your case, the complexity, the volume of supporting evidence. We may need to instruct an interpreter. Interpreter fees, visa fees, barristers’ fees and other disbursements, which are costs payable to third parties are not included in costs set out above. We will handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Interpreters’ fees are charged at approximately £100 £150 per hour (this may or may not exclude VAT). This is in addition to our visa fees as set out above.
Immigration Applications / Appeal
Our hourly rate for this service is £200.00 plus VAT (if applicable). Such applications can take anything between 5 to 15 hours to complete. We will of course update you if further time is required on your matter. If we are able to do any aspect of your work under a fixed fee arrangement, we will let you know and provide you with a figure dependant upon the complexity of your case.
The work for your immigration application / appeal will involve:
discussing your circumstances and options available to you;
providing advice about the requirements of the Immigration Rules and whether or not you meet the criteria;
considering your supporting evidence;
discuss any further steps you need to take, or whether you need to obtain further evidence, such as medical records, bank statements and taking statements from any witnesses;
prepare your application and submitting it on your behalf.
Disbursements and Home Office fees for are not included in costs set out above. You will pay the Home Office any fee directly as part of the application process. We cannot guarantee how long the Home Office will take to process your application. It may take from several months to approximately 1 year and if it is likely to take longer than this, then we will let you know.