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Terms of Business

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1. Responsibility for work

  1. The person named in the letter accompanying these terms will have day to day responsibility for your matter and may be assisted by other members of staff as the matter progresses. The accompany letter also identifies the partner with overall responsibility.
  2. If the person who has day to day responsibility changes we will notify you of the change immediately.

2. Basis of charging

  1. Our charges are based on the time we spend in dealing with a matter. Time spent will include meetings with you and, where appropriate and necessary, with others; any time spent travelling; drafting documents; considering papers and letters received and preparing for meetings and, where appropriate, attending court on your behalf. We also charge for correspondence and making and receiving telephone calls.

    In addition to the time spent, we may taken into account a number of factors which include the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise or specialist knowledge that the case requires and where appropriate the value of the property or subject matter involved. On the basis of the information currently available we expect that the hourly rates set out in the accompanying letter will cover those factors.

    If this changes we will notify you.
  2. The letter accompanying these terms of business confirms the hourly rate(s) that will be applicable to your matter, or the fixed fee of that is the agreement.
  3. The hourly rate(s) will be reviewed from time to time and if an increase occurs we will notify you in writing.
  1. Routine letters and emails that we write will be changed at 1/10 of the hourly rate.
  2. Routine telephone calls that we either make or receive will be charged at 1/10 of the hourly rate
  3. Other letters, emails and telephone calls will be charged on the basis of the time that they take
  4. Where we are acting for you in connection with court proceedings the minimum charge that we will make for a case listed for a full day is £750
  5. We will add VAT to our charge at the rate that applies when the work is done
  6. There may be other expenses, including payments we make on your behalf; e.g. court fees, search fees, fees for medical reports and barristers’ fees which you will have to pay. VAT is payable on certain expenses. We will notify you in advance wherever possible of such expenses and seek your approval.
  7. We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example, due to unexpected difficulties or a change in your instructions).
  8. The accompanying letter will contain one of the following:-
    • A fixed fee for the work to be done on your behalf
    • An estimate of the likely cost of the work to be done on your behalf
    • A forecast within a possible range of costs
    • An explanation for the reason why it is not possible to fix or give a realistic estimate or forecast of the overall costs, but which gives the best information possible about the cost of the next stage of the matter.
  9. Where appropriate, a limit may be set on the charges and expenses to be incurred. Any limit will be shown in the accompanying letter. This means that we may carry out work up to the agreed limit without the need to refer back to you. We will inform you as soon as it appears that the limit may be exceeded and we will not exceed the limit without your agreement.
  10. If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed to completion we will charge you for the work done and any expenses incurred.
  11. We will keep you informed of the level of charges incurred to date at intervals of not more than six months.

3. Payment on account

Given the nature of our work, it is our standard policy to request payment in advance of attending court, and our solicitors will not represent at court without cleared funds. Our letter will set out the amount required and give details of our client account for payment

4. Billing arrangements

  1. We reserve the right to send you an interim bill for our charges and expenses at three monthly intervals or at appropriate stages in the matter.
  2. We will send you a final bill after completion of the work.
  3. Payment is due within 28 days of our sending you the bill.
  4. Interest is chargeable on any bill outstanding after 28 days at a rate of 8% per year, interest is charged on a daily basis
  5. If you have any query about your bill you should contact the person with responsibility for your matter straight away

5. Payment of your charges by another person

  1. You will always be primarily responsible for paying our bill
  2. In appropriate cases, we will discuss with you whether your charges and expenses may be payable by another person, or whether you may qualify for a Defence Costs Order allowing payment of some of your costs out of central funds.
  3. Even if you are successful in court proceedings, the amount that the other party is ordered to pay may be less than you have to pay us or they may be unable to pay the amount they are ordered to. If this happens, you will have to pay the balance. Defence Costs Orders are restricted, and will only cover a percentage of the actual costs. This is due to government cuts. You remain liable for the balance. In the Crown court there is further restriction, but we will discuss this in detail if it becomes relevant.
  4. If the other party is legally aided you are unlikely to get back any charges and expenses even if you win your case
  5. If a court orders another part to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, interest can be charged on them. You will be entitled to receive that interest only where you have paid our charges and expenses on account
  6. If it is necessary to take further action to recover any charges and expenses that a court orders another party to pay, you will be responsible for our charges and expenses for taking that action
  7. In some circumstances (i.e. where you lose a case) you may be ordered to pay the other party’s legal charges and expenses. That money will be payable in addition to our charges and expenses. The amount of the Prosecution costs application is based on a standard scale depending on plea and the type of case.

6. Storage of papers and documents

  1. After completion of your case we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses
  2. We retain our file of papers (except for any of your papers and documents that you ask to be returned to you) for not less than six years following the date of the final bill, after which it maybe destroyed. We retain the file on the basis that we have your authority to destroy it at that time.
  3. If you give us new instructions or ask us to advise you in relation to a file of papers held by us we may make a charge for the work involved in considering the papers and advising you upon the matters you then raise.

7. Termination of instructions

  1. You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. We will be entitled to keep all of your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses
  2. We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example, if you do not pay our interim bill or comply with a request for a payment on account. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you
  3. If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you, we shall charge you for the work done and any expenses incurred

8. Communications

  1. We aim to provide a high quality efficient service and value your instructions. If at anytime you have any queries or concerns about our work for you please raise them first with the person with day to day responsibility of your matter. If that does not answer your query or resolve your concern, please raise the matter with the partner with overall responsibility for your case.
  2. We have a comprehensive procedure for dealing with queries or concerns which we will instigate if you are unable to resolve matters by the above method

9. Liability

  1. The firm’s services are provided solely for the benefit of the client and the firm accepts no responsibility to anyone else
  2. The firm will not be liable if it is unable to perform its services as a result of any cause beyond its reasonable control
  3. The firm accepts no responsibility for the acts or omissions of any barrister except consultant or foreign lawyer instructed on the client’s behalf
  4. The firm’s liability to the client (other than for personal injury or death) shall in every case be limited to one million pounds sterling (£1,000,000) for which sum the firm is indemnified by insurers.

10. Interest Policy

At Lister Brady we pay to our clients interest accrued on client money, in accordance with rules 22-25 of the Solicitors Accounts Rules 2011, when it is fair and reasonable to do so.
When Lister Brady receives money from or on behalf of a client, it will be paid into a general client account with Lloyds TSB who is the Firm’s banker. We are required to hold client funds in an account allowing instant access and therefore the rates of interest payable will be lower than a typical savings rate.

The rate of interest paid to clients on money held in the general client account is in line with Lloyds TSB published rates on instant access current accounts. This is however subject to a de minimis level, which means that no interest will be payable if the amount of interest calculated on the client’s balance is £20 or less.

We will calculate and pay the accrued interest to the client at the end of the matter, and the interest will be calculated over the period in which we hold cleared funds for the client.

For the majority of clients the conjunction of low rates and the £20 minimum means that interest will not in fact be paid in the large majority of cases. This however enables us to keep our administrative costs down and assists us in providing a cost effective service to clients.

11. Conclusion

Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.