Funding & Fees
At Clarke & Son, we offer comprehensive guidance on funding and fees when making or defending a claim; from legal expenses insurance to our fixed fee services.
Whenever litigation is threatened, one of the paramount questions is whether either a potential claimant or defendant will be able to afford to instruct a solicitor to act on their behalf. This applies whether it is a business or personal dispute.
In some cases you may have the benefit of legal expenses insurance to help cover the cost of bringing or defending a claim. If you have (and sometimes you do not realise you have this benefit through for example business property or home insurance) then you should liaise with your broker or insurer straight away. Cover is not normally retrospective. The insurer may wish to refer you to a “panel” solicitor. Depending on the stage reached and the nature of the case you should be able to insist on the appointment ultimately of your solicitor of choice.
Book an Appointment
Our Dispute Resolution team are on hand to assist with a range of funding and fees enquiries, get in touch to book an appointment.
Legal Expenses Insurance
Before bringing a claim we would always recommend you consider whether you may have the benefit of insurance to cover your legal costs.
You or your business may have a specific policy or this could be an add on to a household or business insurance policy. You may not have realised you have this cover! Check this at the start of the matter as cover is not normally retrospective.
If you have cover then your insurers may direct you to a panel solicitor. However, if the matter is complex or sensitive or you are about to bring a claim then you should be entitled to your own free choice of solicitor who will then be covered by the insurance.
Fixed Fee Services
If you do not have legal expenses insurance cover then one of the ways we can help to manage costs for you is by agreeing on fixed fees to cover specific steps in relation to the problem at hand.
This can relate to the initial stage of the process where we take your instructions and provide legal advice. It can also extend then to specific steps prior to the issue of proceedings and then to cover the steps in proceedings.
Whether we can offer fixed fees depends on the nature of the case and the information we have available. It may be that in certain instances or for parts of certain cases it is not appropriate. We will advise you as soon as we can what we can do so you can then make a decision about how you wish to proceed.
Using Clarke & Son as Your Litigation Consultant
If you plan to make a claim you may wish to have some legal advice but do not want to instruct a solicitor generally. You just need some guidance or simply want to discuss the merits of the claim with a lawyer.
The need for help may come at any stage of the action.
This is sometimes known as an ‘unbundled’ service.
We can assist and will normally give fixed fee quotes for the work we are asked to do.
Dispute Resolution Team
Contact Details
If you have any questions or would like to enquire about one of our services, please fill in the enquiry form below and one of the team will get back to you.
