How much for a solicitor?

[Amunamun]

Hello. Do you know how much does it cost to have a consultation with a solicitor? We need to discuss our options and when I asked for a quote, I was told that it would be around 2k as they need to study all the paperwork. All I hoped for was a one-hour chat for around 300 pounds... Is that unreasonable? Or is this rate too low?

Sounds ridiculous to me! I used Withers - not exactly cheap - and I asked to pay for one hour of their time before I had decided and sent htem no papers just told them the info in the meeting and that cost precisely that - one hour of their time in the meeting, no reading of anything before hand.

2k, that's outrageous, are you sure it was just a consultation. Ours charge by the hour, 200 pounds. See if your house insurance, works union or employer have a free legal line, sometimes you get a half hour free consult.

Can I ask what it's for? Family, employment, personal injury, conveyancing? They will all have slightly different hourly rates (conveyancing is usually a fixed fee)

How much paperwork is there? Bear in mind that in my area (West Midlands) most associate solicitors (i.e. not senior or consultant) charge around £200 - 250 per hour.

We do initial consultations for a fixed fee of £130 for family and housing law. I think most firms do similar options, particularly when all a client wants to do is find out what their options are.

However, I suspect that if the solicitors you approached wanted a larger sum of money it'll be because you have disclosed to them what the issue is about and that there are a multitude of background papers to that issue...hence the high price, someone will have to read it all to give you accurate advice.

It all depends on a lot of things. My firm offers a fixed initial fee of £300 inclusive. For that you get the initial meeting (however long that is - often 90-120 minutes) and a written report. I was recently contacted by a litigant in person who had a final hearing coming up, and wanted papers reviewing, guidance on what to do next, and what settlement proposals to make. I charged that person a one-off fee of £600, as that involved much reading in advance, and document drafting. In the end for that she got a 3 hour meeting and a couple of hours of written work, which was a bloody bargain.

Thanks all! it is not a family law, I wanted to discuss my dispute with builders. After I fired them, mysterious "debt" appeared and now they want to take me to the court. So I wanted to check if they are just bluffing or they can really take me to the court when they have no evidence and I paid invoices on time :( the paperwork is emails and quote. @xenia I will try Withers tomorrow, thanks!

They can take anyone to court - anyone can issue court proceedings so the answer to taht will always be yes. Whether they will win is another matter.
First I would ask the amount - if under £10k it's a small claim so neither can usually recover legal costs.

If you paid all that was due and it goes to court it should win. Have they set out in writing what this "debt" is? They are probably saying they did nothing wrong and you terminated the contract early in breach of contract so they are entitled to the profit they would have made on the whole job. You would argue you terminated because tjhey were in breach of contract and useless so they are not entitled to anything more.

To Collaborate

That was a bargain. Bet my ex wished they had used your firm. They were charged £8,000 for the Final Hearing. I was charged £2,000. Big difference.

(.."you" not it should win....)

That was a bargain. Bet my ex wished they had used your firm. They were charged £8,000 for the Final Hearing. I was charged £2,000. Big difference.

That did not include representation at the final hearing.

You may have already done this, but check if you have any legal assistance cover on your home insurance, car insurance (may not just cover car related stuff), staff union etc.
We are going through a legal thing regarding a boundary and I luckily took a home insurance policy this year which had free legal cover.

Thanks a lot everyone. In the end, I didn't need it. They were just bluffing to force me to pay that fake debt. Now, they are just sending me emails twice a day that they will take me to a small claim court and today, they decided to skip the small claim court and they will take me straight to the county court. Already got about 6 deadlines and no court.... Can I actually do something about that? Or they can just threaten me forever? I know the court hearing won't happen but it is annoying.

For a small claim it will be the county court anyway.

Just remember the threats are just that - meaningless if they don't act on them. If they are sending threats via social media just block them.

If they do you will be able to file a defence. Just make sure you do this in time (the accompanying papers will tell you when you need to do it by) and you just set out your side of things.

A county court hearing for a small claim like this is not in open court merely in a room with a district judge. they put their side and you put yours proving any documents/evidenc you have etc and the District Judge will make a decision. quite a few District Judges are local solicitors so nothing to be scared off.

@ReservoirDogs oh thanks, I didn't know that the small claim court and country court are the same. I am a bit nervous but even if they really submit a claim against me, I really hope that they wouldn't win. I think that it is actually them owing me. They did such a poor job that my new contractor even found a gas leak in the house :( Not mentioning other damages. Well, I'll see. In case it will happen, do you know how long this usually takes?