OUR FEES
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is our regulatory body and it requires all law firms practicing certain areas of law to provide their clients or potential clients with transparent pricing information about the likely costs of certain work undertaken on a private-paying basis. Some of the work we undertake within both our Crime Department and our Immigration Department is covered by this requirement. We therefore always try to clearly explain our legal fees and any other expenses a client may need to incur. Please see below for a list of our fee estimates.
Private Fees for Magistrate’s Court Cases
Legal Aid is granted only to those who are eligible; it is assessed on both financial means and merit (i.e. the seriousness of the case). We are always happy to advise you on your eligibility for Legal Aid and assist with making the application to the Legal Aid Agency.
It is important to note; however, that for quite a number of offences, such as motoring offences, simple possession of drugs and some minor public order offences, you may not be eligible for Legal Aid. Such offences are usually known as ‘Summary Only’ offences whereby they are only dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court or are unlikely to be committed to the Crown Court as they are not deemed to be serious enough. Such offences include the following
Public Order Offences (Public Order Act 1986)
• Section 5 Disorderly Behaviour
Motoring Offences
• Driving with excess alcohol.
• Drug driving
• Driving with no insurance.
• Driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
• Driving whilst disqualified.
• Driving without due care and attention/Careless driving.
• Driving whilst using a mobile phone.
• Driving in excess of the speed limit.
• Failing to stop after an accident.
• Failing to report an accident.
• Failing to provide a specimen.
• Failing to provide driver details.
For these offences where legal aid would not be available.
Please note, we may be able to offer a fixed fee; however, this will depend on an initial assessment to determine whether the case is suitable for us to proceed under a fixed fee arrangement. Such assessment will involve looking at the complexity of the case and work likely to be involved, the number of witnesses, and your intended plea. If your case is deemed suitable for a fixed fee arrangement, our fees are as follows:
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Preparation, attendance and advocacy representation at a single hearing to deal with a guilty plea and mitigation: £750 plus VAT
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Preparation, attendance and advocacy representation at a single hearing to deal with a guilty plea and mitigation where the Court is more than 30 miles (round-trip) away from the Fee Earner’s office: £750 plus VAT, plus £100 per hour or part-hour spent travelling (exclusive of travel disbursements)
The team at Dexter Henry & Co have a wealth of knowledge and experience in representing clients for such matters and achieving favourable outcomes for our clients.
Disbursements
The fixed fees referred to above include our legal costs and travel disbursements. If a non-travel disbursement is required in your case, for example an expert report, this disbursement would not be covered within the fixed fees and you will therefore be required to pay for them, including any VAT chargeable at 20%. Also, if the expert were required to attend court to give evidence at your trial, you would also have to pay for their costs associated with attending court. Pricing for disbursements of this kind will vary depending on the kind of expert report required and the nature of the defence being run.
Please contact us to discuss whether your case is suitable for a fixed fee.
Timescales
One important question that you will want to know is how long it will take for your case to conclude. This will be dependent upon a number of different factors, including whether you have pleaded guilty or not guilty, whether you are on bail or in custody, as well as the seriousness and complexity of the allegation(s) against you.
For example, if entering a guilty plea at your first hearing in the Magistrates’ Court, it is possible that you could be sentenced at that same hearing and therefore your case could conclude at one single hearing. If, however, the court felt it would be useful and appropriate for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by probation in order to assist the court with its sentencing exercise, then your case could be adjourned for a further three weeks in order for probation to prepare their report.
In contrast, if you were entering a not guilty plea in the Magistrates’ Court, depending on your bail position and the court’s availability to hear your case, you could find yourself waiting in excess of a year for a trial to take place. Of course, courts will try to accommodate a trial date at its earliest available slot, but this can sometimes take a while.
We will always aim to give you clear and accurate information regarding likely timescales as your case proceeds and more information becomes available.
Service Information
When preparing for trial, we will meet with you to go through the prosecution papers with you and obtain your full instructions and comments on the evidence. We will prepare your Proof of Evidence, which is a document containing your detailed instructions. You will be sent this document for you to read through carefully and approve. This will contain the details of your defence which we will present to the court at trial. We will also obtain witness statements from any potential defence witnesses who may be able to support your defence case.
Where appropriate, before your case even gets to trial, we often prepare detailed written representations to the prosecution, inviting them to review their file and discontinue their case against you. Within those representations, we will clearly set out any weaknesses in the prosecution’s case which would suggest there is insufficient evidence of securing a conviction at trial and set out any personal mitigation which would suggest it would not be in the public interest for your case to proceed to trial.
Of course, our aim is for you to be acquitted or for your case to be discontinued even before it gets to trial. If, however, you are convicted or you plead guilty, we will always present the court with full details of your personal mitigation, seeking to persuade the court to impose the most lenient sentence upon you, as appropriate to the facts of your case.
Service Information
Dexter Henry & Co does not represent legally-aided clients for Immigration work, therefore before coming to us, you may wish to first consider whether or not you are eligible for legal aid, which is based on a means and merits test. You may find the following web-links helpful to determine your eligibility.
https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/what-you-can-get
https://www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid
https://www.gov.uk/get-help-with-court-fees
If you do instruct us on a private-paying basis, you will be responsible for paying our fees and any expenses associated with your matter.
Initial Consultation
We offer a free initial consultation for 40 minutes, either in person or remotely, during which we will provide you with advice relating to your immigration issue and the options available to you.
Pricing Information for Various Types of Applications to the Home Office
Each case is different and therefore it will only be possible to give you a specific legal fee and disbursement estimate during our initial free consultation with you, once we know the exact circumstances of your case and precisely what would be involved to assist you in trying to achieve your aim.
Below; however, is guidance of the fees that could be incurred, depending upon the nature of your case. These fees do not include costs that may be payable to third parties, such as the Home Office and HMPO application fees, the Immigration Health Surcharge, barrister’s fees, and various other possible expenses as detailed below.
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Applications under the EU Settlement Scheme: £500
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Applications for EUSS Family Permit: £900
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Application for leave to remain (Limited Leave to Remain, Indefinite Leave to Remain) in the UK will usually incur legal fees from £1,500 to £2,200 plus VAT at 20%, if VAT is payable, depending on the applications to be prepared and submitted.
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Registrations and Naturalisation as a British Citizen - Such applications range in terms of complexity; legal fees can therefore range from £1300 plus VAT to £2,000 +VAT.
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Visit Visas - Legal fees for such applications can range from £700 to £1,500 dependent on the complexity of the case.
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Ancestry Visas (for commonwealth citizens with a UK born grandparent) usually incur fees from £1,500 to £2,000 plus VAT
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Human Rights (including the Right to Family and Private Life)- Generally, such applications (or for entry clearance applications by family members, such as spouses, children and adult dependent relatives seeking to enter the UK range from £1,800 to £2,500 plus VAT at 20%, if VAT is payable. Applications for extensions or to vary existing leave to remain (such as an application as a partner) would range from £1,500 to £2,000 plus VAT at 20%, if VAT is payable.
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Point-Based System Applications - The nature of such applications can vary, ranging from students to investors. Fees can therefore range from £1,500 to £10,000 plus VAT at 20%, if VAT is payable, depending on the particular application to be prepared and submitted.
In the event further work is required, for example, an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal or an application to Judicially Review a Home Office decision the Upper Tribunal or Administrative Court, additional legal fees would inevitably be incurred. This will, of course, be discussed with you should such a circumstance arise.