A note for our clients about legal costs in contentious and litigated matters

We are an independent firm of solicitors. We only undertake work on a private fee paying basis. We do legal work, we give legal advice, and we charge our clients fees for the work that we do.

A note for our clients about legal costs in contentious and litigated matters

Because we are fully independent, we have no links at all with any other body or organisation. We never share our fees with anybody else and we take no share of fees from anybody else. We do not get paid commissions. If we cannot deal with the matter, we will try to refer you to the most appropriate source of advice. We do not accept payments for any such referrals or introductions. We pay no fees for introductions or referrals to ourselves.

Payment of our fees by a third party

Sometimes our clients are entitled to have their legal costs reimbursed by somebody else, for example, an insurer or where our clients are Landlords, a Tenant may be reimbursing the Landlord. Or where our client is a Company Director he or she may be entitled to be reimbursed by the company. We are happy to issue invoices (within the various tax and VAT Rules, to enable this to be done) but our client always remains our client. Our responsibilities are to our client and it follows that the ultimate responsibility for payment of our fees rests with our clients.

Legal Aid

The Endeavour Partnership LLP does not undertake any work under the ‘Legal Aid’ scheme. Almost all of our work is of a nature which arises out of a business or a commercial transaction and Legal Aid, even when it is sometimes available, does not generally extend to business work or business advice. If you think you may be eligible for Legal Aid, we recommend that you look at the Legal Aid Agency website at www.legalservices.gov.uk for further information.

Insurance cover for legal fees

Individuals – and sometimes even companies – have the benefit of an existing insurance policy which provides cover for legal expenses. It is your responsibility to check whether you might have such a policy and if so to bring it to our attention. Such policies are often very narrowly drawn and the seeking of confirmation of cover from an insurer can be a time-consuming business. It is often a requirement of the policy that the insurer is notified very quickly.
For some types of litigation, insurers offer what is called After the Event (ATE) Insurance.

Endeavour Partnership LLP does not generally arrange ATE insurance or advise upon it. We are an independent firm of solicitors. We only undertake work on a private fee paying basis. We do legal work, we give legal advice, and we charge our clients fees for the work that we do. May 2018 A note for our clients about legal costs in contentious and litigated matters continued

Conditional fees – No Win No Fee Agreements

Endeavour Partnership LLP does not do any litigation work on a conditional or contingent basis.

Litigation Funding

There are organisations and companies which will fund the costs of bringing a claim, in return for receiving an agreed percentage of the compensation or damages received (if any). These companies are mainly interested in high-value commercial claims, particularly multi-million-pound claims or class actions involving numerous Claimants. They are not, as a rule, particularly interested in business to business commercial claims (which is the bulk of the work that this firm does in contentious matters) but if you think you may be able to obtain litigation funding, please discuss this with us

Basis of Charging

We are happy to agree fee structure according to the time spent – that is charging by the hour.
If clients prefer it, we are happy to agree, wherever possible, a fixed price or lump sum fee.
We are happy to negotiate a fee payable according to certain stages of a case, for example, front end loaded fees so that more is payable in the early stages of a dispute and less if it proceeds to trial (this provides an incentive, at least for the lawyers, to try to find a settlement !) or to negotiate the reverse of this where fewer fees are paid at the front end of a case and more at the end (which can be attractive to clients if they think there will be a lot of preparatory work in a case which is going to proceed to trial and to a successful conclusion). We can be very flexible and very imaginative about the way in which fees are structured. Alternatively, it is open to you to set an upper limit of the costs for which you may be liable without further authority. We would then not exceed that agreed limit without first seeking your consent.

Litigation – Recovery of costs

At the conclusion of a contentious matter, our client, when successful, may be entitled to recover some or perhaps all costs from the other party. This entitlement will be dealt with according to a court order or a settlement agreement. The actual amount that is recovered can be subject to an assessment of costs by the court.

In these circumstances, you may not recover the full amount that has been billed by us. We are happy to explain this further if necessary.