Chelian Law Solicitors is a well-established law practice with a reputation for expertise and achievement. We have a specialist team of lawyers who focus on litigation.

All members of the specialist civil litigation team have many years’ experience and the skills needed in dealing with all aspects of this complex area of law, providing a comprehensive and high-quality legal service to the general public. We recognise that everyone’s circumstances are different, therefore, our fees are calculated on a case by case basis depending on complexity and your particular needs. We will always be upfront with you about our costs and usually deal with cases on a fixed fee basis if appropriate.

Clear and Transparent Fees

In accordance with the Solicitors’ Regulatory Transparency Rules, we are required to ensure that members of the public have transparent, accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing certain legal services.

Below we have listed our charges for dealing with the matters that we most commonly encounter. If your matter does not fall into one of these matters, then we will provide you with a bespoke quote.

The level of cost involved will be dependent on the seniority of the solicitor you choose to instruct to represent you in this matter on the basis that time is charged at an hourly rate or whether you agree to instruct the firm on the basis that a fixed fee will be applicable.

Hourly Rates for Civil Litigation Cases

If you instruct the solicitor on the basis of an hourly rate, then the chargeable rate is set out below:

Status	Pay Band	Hourly rate
Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience	A	£250
Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience	B	£225
Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent	C	£200
Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners	D	£175

Our Fixed Fees

Please note that the applicable fee estimates do not always include all the costs involved and you will be liable to meet the cost of any disbursements incurred, including for the solicitor travelling to a Court further away to represent you and we will advise you of any additional charges incurred.

You will also be liable to meet the cost of any other disbursements reasonably incurred and agreed with you in advance, in preparing your case. These include court fees and the barrister's fees which are not included in the below fixed fees.

Services

Our expert Civil Litigation team specialise in and offer a broad range of services to both individuals and businesses offering advice in the following areas:

Below we provide an indication as to likely costs of resolving a contractual dispute. There are 3 broad stages to the process as follows:

Stage One – Pre-Action Simple Case – £2500+ VAT

This includes: Taking your instructions, reviewing documentation and providing ongoing advice, undertaking any appropriate searches, sending a letter before action, corresponding with the other party where appropriate, excluding any barrister fee, receiving payment and sending it on to you.

Stage Two – Proceedings Simple Case – £5,000 + VAT

This includes: Continuing to take your instructions and further review of the documentation/paperwork and advising on merits/prospect of success, excluding barrister fee, correspondence with all parties, Preparing Forms and Particulars of Claim, or Defence, where appropriate, instructing and liaising with Counsel throughout, where appropriate, where no Acknowledgment of Service or Defence is received, applying to the court to enter Judgement in default, when Judgement in default in received, write to the other side to request payment, advising on the response from opposition, exploring/negotiating settlement throughout the matter, preparing for/attending mediation, where appropriate, preparing for and attending and preliminary hearings and final hearing, taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their contents with witnesses, reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements, preparing and agreeing on the bundle of documents.

If proceedings are issued, then you will also incur a Court Fee of the following:

Value of Claim	Court Fee
up to £300	£25
between £300.01 and £500	£55
between £500.01 and £1,000	£80
between £1,000.01 and £1,500	£115
between £1,500.01 and £3,000	£170
more than £3,000	£335
Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners

Stage Three – Enforcement Simple Case – £2,500+ VAT This includes:

For non-payment, advising on appropriate action and taking your instructions, making further enquires or searches, making any appropriate applications, communicating with the other party and any relevant third party, negotiating repayment proposals, where appropriate.

Fee to instruct the County Court bailiff or a High Court Enforcement Officer - £500

The indications provided above should be taken as a guide only, excluding any barrister fee, which have to be agreed.

Timescales

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter is dependent on the stage at which your case is resolved and the Court in which proceedings have been issued.

If a settlement is reached during Stage One, your matter is likely to be resolved within three months.

If your matter progresses to Stage Two and progresses to a final contested hearing then it is likely that matter will take up to 12 months to settle.

If Stage Three is required, then we would hope that the matter could be resolved within 3 months of commencing enforcement action.

VAT & Disbursements Our fees and some disbursements are subject to VAT at 20%.

Disbursements are charges payable in addition to our fees, normally to a third party. They can include fees payable to barristers, search providers and travel costs. The amount charged for the disbursements depends upon several variables, therefore, we will advise you of the correct charges when we have an initial consultation to ascertain all the facts.