Managing the cost of legal services

I charge for professional services based upon the time and type of work that I do for you.  Each case is unique in terms of the issues, the way people react, the degree of difficulty and complexity.  As we have no control over how the other party will engage in the process it is rarely possible to provide a fixed quote as to what your legal fees will be. However, I will always provide an estimate once we have agreed my scope of work.   My estimate will be updated if the scope of work changes or you and I are unable to efficiently manage what other parties choose to do. 

There are links on this page to some good information for consumers of legal services.  Please at last scan this material so you know what information is there and can come back to it if those issues become relevant.

Legal costs can be minimised if you:

• Provide instructions to me in a timely fashion. Remember, my advice is only as good as the information you give me.  I can’t take into account information that you do not give me.
• Accept and follow my reasonable legal advice and be aware that the best practical outcome might require you to make some uncomfortable concessions. 
• Strive to resolving the matter amicably.  At least, always work in a fair and friendly manner when dealing with me and the other side.  Sometimes we will also need to be “firm”.
• Provide documents in an organised manner. I run a paperless office, everything gets scanned, so providing documents in an electronic format saves time and reduces legal costs.
• Always co-operate and do all that I reasonably request of you in a timely manner.
• Make full and frank disclosure when I ask questions.  There is no right or wrong answer, just valuable information that I might need to consider.
• Keep telephone calls and emails to important and relevant matters.  Please consider that after we finish a short telephone conversation, I need to make a file note of  what we discussed.  If you spend ten minutes writing an email to me, I will often spend twice that amount of time thinking about the questions you raise, writing and proofreading a reply.  I must then file the email or file note in the correct place on my file server and record the time this took in my billing system.  Not that I charge every time I "touch your file".