Terms & Conditions

1. What do you get for your money?

a. Initial telephone advice - You get 20 minutes of a lawyers time on the phone. While rigid guides cannot be set, this would normally work out to about 10 minutes obtaining all relevant information, 5 minutes discussing the various options with you and 5 minutes giving specific advice and ascertaining what you want to do. When you call you initially speak to a call handler. This is not part of your 20 minutes. Their job is to obtain basic information from you prior to putting you through to a lawyer, so that the time with the lawyer can be put to best use and you get full value for money. When transferring your call to a lawyer you may be put on hold for a short period. The purpose of this is to allow the call handler is to pass on relevant information to the lawyer before you speak to them. Again, this is not part of your 20 minutes. You then get put through to a lawyer. Your 20 minutes starts as soon as they connect through to you. Please be guided by them, as it enables maximum use of the time allowed and avoids running into an overcharge period. If you call during office hours and we cannot put you through to a lawyer then the call handler will take your information in the same way and then arrange for someone to call you back. The call will be returned.

b. Notice of Intended Prosecution (S172 NOTICE) - we cannot advise you to lie or break the law. We can, however, explain the procedure and what happens if you fail to respond to the Notice.

c. Driver ID/calibration/accuracy challenge - We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we write to the prosecuting authority on your behalf seeking a copy of any evidence regarding the identity of the driver or the accuracy of any system used to record the offence. Upon their reply we will advise you of their response and, if they intend to proceed, advise you on your options at that stage.

d. Advice on Plea - We obtain as much information and evidence as we can from the prosecuting authority to enable us to advise you fully on whether you have a realistic/credible Defence to the charges/. For most speeding and due acre offences the amount of information that may be available may be limited, but most police forces do give us enough information to be able to advise you because they like going to Court about as much as you do.

e. Mitigation - We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we prepare written representations to the Court upon your behalf (written) or arrange for a representative to attend Court with you (personal), arguing for the lowest appropriate sentence realistically possible. You would be responsible for obtaining any necessary letters from your employers or GP that may be relevant to sentencing, such a confirmation that you would lose your job if disqualified, and we provide you with letters to take to them setting out what is needed. We will deal with letters to any other appropriate witnesses that we are made of that may be able to give relevant information for sentencing. Once you have been sentenced you will be advised as to whether you have Grounds for appealing that sentence, for example, if it was too harsh.

f. Trial - We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we will correspond with relevant parties (usually the Court and the Prosecution) with regard to the Prosecution. Where we are notified of possible witnesses for you we will send them questionnaires to complete, setting out the information they would give at Court. We would normally write to the Court and prosecuting authority to make attendance at preliminary hearings by letter. Should you wish us to arrange personal attendance at such a hearing we can do so but there is an additional fee. We co-ordinate with the Prosecution and Court to arrange the Trial date and arrange for any necessary witnesses we are aware of to attend. We arrange personal attendance at the Trial by a qualified lawyer. Should you be convicted you receive personal representation on sentencing. You will also be advised on whether you have an Appeal against either conviction or sentence.

g. Appeal - Should you be entitled to bring an Appeal we shall advise you on this. If you decide to Appeal we deal with this and also arrange representation at the Appeal hearing.

2. Additional Charges

Fixed fees work for standard cases, however we take on the risks that there will be additional work to enable us to provide as fixed a pricing structure as we can. In certain circumstances additional charges will apply. The basic guide for these is that an additional charge will arise if your case involves something more than the ordinary, such as using an expert, or where you ask us to do work over and above that set out above.

Experts

We will have to charge you additional costs in the following circumstances:

Where it is necessary for there to be an inspection of the place where alleged offence/incident took place - £300+VAT - this must be paid in advance.
Where a technical expert is necessary to support your Defence - expert fees vary and we would obtain a quote s it appears this is necessary - the expert must be paid in advance.

Red Carpet

Should it be necessary for us to work over and above that set out already, the following charges would apply:

Where the case does not proceed substantially as a result of your fault (eg. where you fail to bring your licence to Court or fail to attend) then we are entitled to refuse to act further. Should you wish us to continue to act, there would be an additional fee of 50% of the charge (this only applies to a Trial or plea in mitigation fee).
Where you ask us to apply for an adjournment of the case, or we have to do so because of your failure to deal with matters in time causing there to be a further hearing - £100+VAT.
Personal attendance upon your behalf at any hearing other than as set out above - £200+VAT.
Personal interview with a lawyer by either you or any of your witnesses, other than at Court-£180+VAT per hour or part thereof.
Personal discussion with a lawyer by telephone, save at our instigation - £18+VAT per 6 minutes or part thereof.
Where the case does not proceed due to the fault of the Prosecution, an additional fee of £400+VAT (which we will seek to recover from the Prosecution.)

3. Tailor - Made Service

The service is exactly what it says. You are charged at a rate of £180 per hour for all time spent on your case. We charge an up-front fee of £500 and then send out monthly invoices for the work done, allowing you to spread the cost. The invoices must be paid within 7 days, either by cheque or card otherwise we are entitled to stop work. Where your case is going to Trial we are entitled to payment of any barrister’s fee for appearing at Trial in advance plus an additional £500 on account of our costs.

4. General

Email

To keep costs down we are entitled to communicate with relevant parties by email.

Scanning/storing files

At the conclusion of your case the file will be scanned and the original destroyed. The scanned copy is retained for a period of at least 3 years. Should you require a copy of the file we will provide this to you on CD-ROM upon payment of a £15 administration fee.

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