TRIALS, GUILTY PLEA AND CONTESTED INDIVIDUAL HEARINGS TRIALS
All fees inclusive of VAT
Trial listed for 1/2 day hearing or less: £2,100
Trial listed for between 1/2 day and 1 day: £2,500
The following is included in the fee:
- Attendances at up to four hearings Attending upon you for up to 6 hours
- Interviewing up to three defence witnesses
- Preparation for the trial
- Advocacy and all associated work at the trial
- Considering the accuracy of a record of digitally recorded Interview
- Dealing with any prosecution hearsay application
- Dealing with any prosecution bad character application
- Dealing with any prosecution application to vacate the trial
- Preparing a skeleton argument on a point of law
- Telephone/e-mail updating of you re the position (maximum one per day)
In the vast majority of cases, this is all the work that needs to be done on a particular case. However, in some cases, there is additional work required. Additional fees will apply for that work. Should the additional work fall into any of the below categories, the following fees will apply:
- Applying to the Court for Unused Material £300
- Instructing an expert witness* £300
- Interviewing more than three defence witnesses - fee per witness £150
- Making an application to adduce Hearsay evidence on your behalf £300
- Fifth hearing and thereafter - per hearing £360
- Preparation and serving of photographs re the location of the incident £400
- Making a Bad Character application against a Prosecution witness £300
All figures above apply to cases in any Court within a 50-mile radius of our offices. If the Court is further than 50 miles away, then additional costs will be charged to reflect the travelling time involved at a rate of £100 per hour.
INDIVIDUAL GUILTY PLEA HEARINGS
These are the fees we will charge for individual hearings at the Magistrates` Court. This fee covers all work necessary on your behalf at that particular Court hearing. It does not cover any preparatory meeting at the office for which there will be an additional £200 charge. Such a meeting is not normally necessary but obviously, if you wish to have such a meeting, we will arrange one.
Birmingham Magistrates` Court - Guilty pleas £360
Magistrates` Courts within 50-mile radius of our offices - Guilty pleas £480
Magistrates` Court within a 100-mile radius of our offices - Guilty pleas £840
CONTESTED INDIVIDUAL HEARINGS
Exceptional Hardship and Special Reasons Arguments
Birmingham Magistrates` Court and Courts within 50-mile radius of our offices £720
Magistrates` Courts between 50 and 100-mile radius of our offices £1200
The above figures do not include any reasonable disbursements incurred, such as travelling expenses (mileage, parking, train, etc) and the fees of any expert/agent required, to be agreed with you in advance of instructions being given to the expert/agent.
PAYMENT
At all times, we must have sufficient monies on account from you to pay for all anticipated work (unless we agree in writing with you to the contrary). As stated in our Terms of Business sheet we will cease to act should that not be the case.
Should you be acquitted of the charges or should the prosecution discontinue the case against you, the Court, normally, will make a “Defendant`s Costs Order (DCO)â€. Under a DCO, the Court will repay you for costs incurred but only at Legal Aid rates. This will be substantially less than the amount we will have charged you (perhaps between 1/3 and 1/2 of what you pay us). The procedure for reclaiming the costs is quite complicated. We “sub-contract†the submission of the bill of costs to a costs draftsman and whilst we would not charge you for our time in assisting the costs draftsman, we would charge you whatever our costs draftsman charges us. Should that arise, we will let you know what those charges will be.
TYPICAL TIMESCALES
Guilty plea hearings - we expect to be dealt with at the first listing of the case by the Court.
Trials and contested individual hearings - we expect the final hearing to take place within 6 to 8 weeks of the first listing of the case by the Court.
The listing of a case is within the control of the Court and not within our control, so these are only estimates only.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF STAFF
All advocacy will be undertaken by a solicitor or higher courts` advocate. Preparation work will be carried out by a solicitor or a legal clerk under his/her supervision. Please visit our website for individual`s details.