Our Fees II
General Fees
All of our fees are based on the hourly charge-out rates of the fee earning staff appointed to your case and the amount of time they spend working on your case.
All of our fee earners – Solicitors, Trainees and Paralegals have standard hourly charge out rates which are reviewed each year.
The more senior and/or experienced the individual, the higher the hourly rate. The more junior and/or inexperienced the individual, the lower the hourly rate.
At Berry Legal our starting point for hourly rates is as follows:
- From £300 per hour for a solicitor of more than 8 years qualification
- From £250 per hour for a solicitor of more than 4 years qualification
- From £180 per hour for a solicitor of less than 4 years qualification
- From £150 per hour for paralegals and trainee solicitors.
In all cases we will do our utmost to provide the best possible information on our fees at the beginning of the case, at regular intervals throughout your matter and at its conclusion.
At Berry Legal we understand that every person’s case is unique. To give you the best possible information on our costs and the different options available to you, we would invite you to get in touch so that we can discuss your particular case and give you the best possible information.
In all cases we will ask you for money on account of our costs, this is a sum of money that will be held in your client account until we are ready to issue you with a bill. Most clients with cases that continue for any length of time will be billed monthly. In these sorts of cases, we will account to you for the work that we have done in the month and present you with a bill for that work each month.
In some circumstances, we may be able to work for you for a fixed fee. A fixed fee is our best estimate of how much it will cost to conduct a case or a particular part of it based upon the hourly rate of the fee earner conducting the case and the amount of time we think it will take to conclude.
Fixed Fee
By fixing the fee, we are in most cases letting you know exactly how much your case will costs right at the outset.
Fixed fees can be attractive to those who are anxious to know precisely how much a case will cost. They tend to lend themselves to more straightforward cases that have a more predictable beginning and end.
In more complex or long running cases we are usually unable to fix our fees because it can simply not be possible to predict with accuracy the amount of work that will be involved right at the outset.
When we do offer a fixed fee, we will be very clear about the amount or type of work that the fee will cover. This will be set out in our initial letter to you and can be as simple as a list of work that is included in the fee and a list of work that is not included in the fixed fee.
In almost all cases where we work to a fixed fee, we reserve the right to charge additional amounts if the circumstances of the case materially change. This would be an unusual outcome but there are circumstances where in order to progress your case or to bring it to a conclusion, we need to undertake work that was not envisaged when we first quoted the fixed fee. In these circumstances we would always discuss and agree with you any additional charges before undertaking the additional work.
Pay As You Go
Berry Legal is happy to offer a pay as you go service for advice you receive at the time you speak with a lawyer. With this service you will not be on a retainer but will support you in the background.