Solicitor cost

[tropicalblues]

Hello. New to this and had some quotes for solicitors per hour and was a bit shocked. Is £500 per hour usual ? How much are you all paying and how many hours does a divorce usually take??? I know... how longs a piece of string right?

£220
SE

£500 would be for a partner. Ask if there is an assistant solicitor available and what their rate is? (An assistant solicitor means a solicitor but who is not a partner rather than someone who assists a solicitor). Alternatively there are Leagl Executives employed at some firms who may or may not be cheaper than a solicitor but are just as specialist.

£500 is v high so unless you have very complex or high value assets it's a lot to pay.

I charge £230 (should be more like £250) plus VAT in an outer London borough. I am 20+ years qualified.

Thanks MrsBert. Glad it's not just me thinking it sounded high. I will keep looking then.

Not a huge amount of assets or complex but a company worth between 2-4M depending on who you ask, with external parties involved. About 200k in cash and about £300k in property and cars ?

What should I expect to pay overall?

That's a partner rate and a high partner rate at that. You will be able to find a good solicitor/associate for £220-300 in the regions.

My firm have a wide range of different levels and sometimes more than one person works on a matter so I do the complex work, junior solicitor does the easier stuff under my supervision and direction, trainee or paralegal does the work appropriate to their level again under supervision.

Saw a file taken over from another firm a few weeks ago. Partner rate for everything even the email saying please find attached an email from x please ring me to discuss.

Ask a few more questions and maybe look further afield op

@lizzyb I have a question for you - if junior solicitor is doing
work under your supervision/ direction do you bill for her time and yours or just hers?

She would charge for her time reviewing (partner time) but obviously that is a lot quicker than drafting documents, having hour long meetings and conversations etc.

So there will be some partner time and some assistant time on the file.

£270 per hour plus VAT is what my solicitor, who is a partner, charges. In South West London. £500 is very high.

Where are you based?

Genuinely - who can justify £500 an hour? Is their advice going to be so much better?

I can see it for city commercial lawyers - massive deals at stake etc, buf not family lawyers. There is something distasteful about asking for that much money IMO. Maybe I am wrong.

It’s bad enough that legal aid only applies if there is DV now.

but not buf

Mine is £185

If you're Baroness Shackleton doing Paul McCartney then you can charge stupid money and as clients like that kind of monopolise all your time for a few months, then vanish, the crazy fees are justified.

If you are someone like me trying to extract a suburban couple from their marriage without bankrupting them, it's untenable. Although I do wish some of my clients would realise they aren't paying a rate that commands my undivided and instantaneous attention.

Not a huge amount of assets or complex but a company worth between 2-4M depending on who you ask, with external parties involved.

That makes it fairly complex I would say.

trying to extract a suburban couple from their marriage

A very apt description - that’s what my divorce feels like - an ongoing extraction.

@MrsBertBibby - FWIW I have really appreciated the advice you have given me (once or twice), or other people, over the past year. After my lovely solicitor, I think you would have been my second choice (no idea if I would have been your choice of client!).

"Not a huge amount of assets or complex but a company worth between 2-4M depending on who you ask, with external parties involved. About 200k in cash and about £300k in property and cars ?"

Unfortunately, this will be complicated and expensive.

"Not a huge amount of assets or complex but a company worth between 2-4M depending on who you ask, with external parties involved. About 200k in cash and about £300k in property and cars ?"

Good heavens OP. Brace yourself. This is more definitely a complex divorce in financial terms