Traditionally Barristers could only accept work for a client if that work came from a solicitor. Barristers and solicitors had developed two different but related professions where solicitors dealt more generally with client and barristers specialised in particular areas of law and in advocay at court and preparing court documents. Barristers were not aloweed to take cases from clients directly and solicitors were not aloowed to appear in the higher courts.
Barristers who are apropriately trained (“Direct Access Qualified”) can now take cases from the public. Not every case is suitable for Direct Access and as a client you will need to do a lot more work than you would if you had also instructed a solicitor (although it should also be a lot cheaper for you).
If you want to instruct one of 1215 Chambers’ barristers on a direct access basis you should ask for a quote from them- they will normally need to see some papers to do this and each barrister charges differently for the work they do. As a general rule Direct Access Work at 1215 Chambers is conducted ona fixed fee basis which means that you will be told in advance the price for each peice of work that needs to be done and you will need to pay that fee before the work is completed. In fixed fee work their won’t be any hidden charges or extras and it will be very clear from teh client care letter what you are paying for.
Because with Direct Access work you will be doing the work that the solicitor would normally do (filing the claim- giving documents tothe court etc) you will have to pay the court fees as well as any fees to the Barrister. You will also have to do things like send the other side copies of documents (which means you will proabbly have to pay someone to copy those documents and for the postage).
Specific Guidance about Immigration Fees can be found on Simon Canter’s profile (He’s our Immigration specialist).
Civil/ commercial fees are generally based on the barrister’s hourly rate (Between £275 and £350 plus VAT per Hour depending on the type of case) multiplied by the estimated time to undertake the work. By way of example a typical advice on a fairly routine matter (possession of premises- a boundary dspute- commercial contracts dispute) would normally take between 4 and 8 hours. Factors that affect the time taken are the complexity of the legal issues, the volume of papers, the factual complexity/ length of time over which event soccurred and how well organised the papers are.
A written advice in civil matters is usually completed within 14 days of receipt of instructions. If the barrister is unable to do this due to pressure of work, complexity of hte advice or because of other comittments the client should be told in advance.
Further information is avaiable on the Terms/ Regulation Page