Legal Aid

We hold a contract with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to provide advice and representation under the Legal Aid scheme in judicial review cases, as well as in housing and community care. We are also able to carry out a limited number of cases in other areas of law, for example social security.

Legal aid is means-tested so only those with income and capital below the relevant thresholds are entitled. If you contact us for help with a case we will work out whether you are eligible for legal aid – but for a basic idea of whether you might be eligible you can use the LSC's online calculator.

Privately funded

If you are not entitled to legal aid we will discuss with you other ways of funding your case. These include:

Our hourly rates are very competitive and reflect the fact we have significantly lower overheads than many law firms in London and Bristol. We always provide a detailed cost estimate at the start of the work, you can set benchmarks or caps on the fees we incur, and we provide a full breakdown of the work we have carried out when we present you with our final bill.

Fixed fees: In some cases we will agree a fixed fee for a particular piece of work, for example carrying out work up to a particular stage in a court case.

Conditional fee agreements (CFAs): We rarely agree to act on “full” conditional fee basis (often described as a no win-no fee). However, we are often prepared to act in court proceedings under a hybrid CFA. Under a hybrid CFA we agree that if your case fails you are liable to pay some, but not all of, our legal fees (typically 50%). If your case is successful, then we recover your legal costs from your opponent at our full rates. This way we share the risks of the litigation with you.

Before-the-event legal expenses insurance: Legal expenses insurance is often provided as an additional benefit on contents and other insurance policies, mortgage policies, credit card agreements and as a benefit to members of a trade union or association. The policies differ and each policy will list the types of court proceedings it covers. If the policy does provide cover, then the insurer will meet your legal costs. The insurer must also allow you to instruct a solicitor of your choice. It is a good idea to exercise this right so that you ensure that your case is conducted by a solicitor with a high level of expertise in the area of law in question. We can help you work out whether you have a relevant policy and, if so, we will liaise with your insurer.

Limiting your liability for your opponent’s legal costs

For clients who do not have legal aid the basic rule in court proceedings in England and Wales is that the loser pays the winner’s legal costs. So if you are thinking about issuing court proceedings as a privately paying client, one of the first things we will do is quantify this risk and discuss ways of limiting your exposure.

In judicial review work this risk only arises once a court claim has been commenced. That is important because many judicial review cases are resolved successfully under the judicial review pre-action protocol. The protocol requires both sides to set out their position in writing and provide relevant disclosure before court proceedings are commenced. Many opponents reconsider or adjust their position at the protocol stage and before any court proceedings are commenced.

If your case is not resolved at the protocol stage, we will advise you of the risk, in percentage terms, of losing your case and of facing an adverse costs order if you initiate court proceedings. We will also quantify the level of that risk. Obviously the level of the costs risk is higher if your case proceeds to a contested trial than if it is rejected by the court at an early stage.

We will also talk to you about legal expenses insurance and about protective costs orders:

After-the-event legal expenses insurance: This is an insurance policy which is taken out after the need to take court proceedings has arisen and in order to cover the risk of losing the proceedings and being ordered to pay an opponent’s costs. It is most commonly available in damages cases with high prospects of success. It is much harder to obtain for judicial review cases and when it is available the premium can be very high.

Protective costs orders: These are court orders made at the very start of court proceedings and which place a cap on the maximum amount you will be required to pay your opponent if your case fails. These orders are easiest to obtain in environmental cases. In such cases the courts are currently setting the cap at around £5,000. Protective costs orders can also be obtained in some public interest cases. We will discuss the potential for a protective costs order at the outset of your case.

For more information about funding issues please ask to speak to a member of our team.