Tier 1/2 lawyers

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I'm looking at family lawyers and want to go for a good London firm. I have no idea how much they will cost though and if realistically they are out of my reach.

Can anyone advise as to the tiers? If I want a tier 1 solicitor/firm is this ranking mainly due to having celebrity customers or high net worth customers rather than actually being considerably better? And do they cost a lot more? I don't even know ball park figures and whether we would be talking 1k+ an hour or whether they may even vary? Also how many hours is the average divorce process?

How have others chosen a solicitor? I've been looking through legal 500 and chambers but I'm not sure how I make a final decision.

Don't get too het up about it. The tiers are mainly about high net worth clients and celebrities, they don't mean the firm would be better for you. Go for someone with say ten years experience that you feel comfortable with.

Unless you have really complex finances, offshore assets, family trusts and so on. And even then they'll use counsel so my advice still stands.

Thanks George. I'm not sure how I even begin to pick one! I was hoping tiers would help narrow things down.

I have slightly complex finances in that I am shareholder in my husbands company of which he shares 50/50 with another person. They don't have a shareholder agreement in place and I've limited/no access to financials but they are doing very well and looking to sell in the near future.

I helped a lot initially with the company and gave up a good career so I could look after the family while he focused on it and I want what is fair.

The top divorce firms in London tend to deal with high net worth clients (which include celebs) and top lawyers (e.g. Fiona Shackleton and Helen ward) you're looking at around £600 an hour 3(ex VAT) although much of the work would be done by associates (around £300 an hour) and trainees (around £150-250 an hour).

You could be looking at hundreds of thousands if it went to final hearing.

If your financial situation is relatively simple you'd be better off with a smaller boutique firm, usually found outside central London, and you can get more info on them by googling and looking them up Chambers and Partners. The SRA also have a "find a solicitor" function.

Even then you could be looking at 10-30k each (if it goes to final hearing)

OP without meaning to be unkind, being a shareholder in your husband's company doesn't really qualify as complex finances.

Any competent high street solicitors can handle a situation like that. So choose someone you like.

I agree with Sugarcoma - try looking outside central London, ring round a few.