SRA PRICE TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT

INTRODUCTION

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Transparency Rules aim to ensure people have accurate and relevant information about a firm when considering buying legal services, including the costs involved in the provision of those services.  

The Transparency Rules do not apply to all legal services, but the categories that are relevant to Adam Benedict™ are:

• For individuals: Employment Tribunal litigation (employee claims for unfair and wrongful dismissal).

• For businesses: Debt recovery (claims of up to £100,000); Employment Tribunal litigation (defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal).

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL LITIGATION

Adam Benedict™ is able to represent clients in Employment Tribunal litigation. We have experience in acting for employees and employers in relation to claims involving allegations of wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal, discrimination and whistleblowing.

In relation to cases involving unfair or wrongful dismissal, the Transparency Rules require us to provide information about the costs that may arise in such cases.

It is hardly ever possible to specify the expected or exact total cost of a case without information about the specific claim(s) involved.  By way of guidance only, the likely range of our fees for a straightforward case that proceeds to a final hearing is likely to be between £25,000 and £50,000 (excluding disbursements and VAT).    By contrast, for a case with ‘medium’ complexity, we would expect the range of fees to be between £45,000 and £100,000 (excluding disbursements and VAT).  For the most complex cases, we would expect our fees to range between £75,000 and £150,000 (excluding disbursements and VAT).  

We do wish to stress that cases can settle at any stage, including from the outset of the matter.  In most cases, the parties are encouraged to seek alternative ways of resolving their disputes where possible.

Factors likely to influence the complexity of a case

There are many factors that affect the complexity of a case and the costs involved including:

• making or defending preliminary applications to the Employment Tribunal (e.g., to clarify the issues in the claim);

• the involvement of jurisdictions or parties outside of the UK;

• whether any of the parties work in a regulated role or sector (e.g., financial services);

• the scope and extent of the parties’ 'disclosure' obligations (i.e., the search for and provision of documents relevant to the claim);

• the number of potential witnesses relied on by the parties;

• the involvement of expert witness evidence (e.g., medical evidence);

• whether there are allegations of discrimination, whistleblowing or regulatory breaches;

• the duration of any hearing(s), including the final hearing;

• making or defending costs applications.

Adam Benedict™ have a range of pricing options available to our clients.  However, unless we agree an alternative pricing model with you, our charges will usually be based on hourly rates which will reflect the experience and seniority of the lawyers involved.  Please also note that the rates for each lawyer may vary and may need to be agreed on a case-by-case basis. 

You can find out more information about the experience of our lawyers by clicking here: People.

Disbursements

“Disbursements” are costs related to a case that are payable to third parties by us, which are then recovered from our clients, usually from funds held in our client account.  Where we handle the payment of disbursements, we will always itemise those disbursements on our invoices, including any VAT that is applicable.

In most cases, the most significant disbursement that we would anticipate will be the fees of the barrister who acts as advocate at hearings (including the final hearing).  These are usually known as “Counsel’s fees”.  

Counsel’s fees will vary depending upon the experience and seniority of the barrister that we instruct on your behalf.  However, in our experience, Counsel’s fees usually range in value from between £5,000 and £15,000 per day of the hearing.  

Often, barristers will charge a “brief fee”, which will usually include all preparation for the final hearing, a pre-hearing conference (if needed), and the first day spent in the Employment Tribunal for the final hearing.  Once a brief fee is incurred, it cannot usually be refunded even if the case has settled before the first day of the hearing and whilst the preparatory work is still being done. 

In addition to the brief fee, barristers may charge a “refresher fee” for each day that the hearing exceeds the period previously allocated, to cover work which effectively falls outside the scope of the brief fee.  As an example, if the brief fee covers a two-day hearing and the hearing lasts for a third day, a refresher fee will be charged in addition to the brief fee, usually on a daily rate.

Additional Counsel’s fees may also arise for preliminary advice at the beginning of the case and/or as the case develops.

VAT

All legal fees and disbursements incurred by our fee earners are subject to applicable standard VAT at the prevailing rate, which is currently 20%.

Key stages of the case

The fee ranges set out above cover the following key stages of an Employment Tribunal claim:

• taking initial instructions, reviewing the case and advising on its merits (which we will do on an ongoing basis as the matter proceeds);

• pre-action settlement discussions (although please note that settlement discussions will usually be carried on throughout the process);

• preparing claim(s) and/or responding to claim(s);

• preparing or responding to schedules of loss;

• preparing for and attending preliminary hearings;

• preparing for and attending interim application hearings;

• conducting disclosure, the exchange of documents with the other party and preparing bundles for hearings;

• preparing, reviewing and advising on witness statements';

• agreeing a list of issues, case summary and case chronology as required; and

• preparation and attendance at the final hearing.

Timescales

If a claim proceeds to a final hearing, in our experience, a case is likely to take between 6 and 24 months from beginning to end.  However, we repeat that a claim may be settled or otherwise resolved at any stage.

DEBT RECOVERY CLAIMS UP TO £100,000

Below we have set out our costs for commercial debt recovery work for claims up to the value of £100,000 against debtors located within England and Wales.  Costs for debt claims above this value are available on request by making an enquiry at info@adambenedict.co.uk.

The costs set out below will only apply where the claim is for unpaid invoices which are not in dispute.  If the potential defendant disputes the claim at any point prior to issuing court proceedings, we will discuss any further work required with our clients and provide revised costs estimates as appropriate.  We have a range of payment options available, which are available upon request by e-mailing: info@adambenedict.co.uk.

All of Adam Benedict™’s costs below are exclusive of VAT and disbursements.

Pre-action costs

Standard letters

Our costs for preparing a fully protocol compliant letter of claim depend on the level of the debt and are set out below: