How do solicitors charge?
There are various methods of funding a legal case used by solicitors: • Charging by the hour: This is the most common method of charging. Hourly rates vary from high street firms where you can expect to pay somewhere between £80 to £120 an hour for advice on private and commercial work, all the way through to £350 an hour for a senior partner in a City firm for extremely expert advice on complex points of commercial law. • Fixed fees: This form of payment has the obvious appeal of limiting your liability for legal costs and, after the hourly rate, it’s the next most common way of charging. The obvious downside is that if your case concludes quickly, then you will end up paying more than you may have on the hourly rate basis. • No win, no fee: ‘No win, no fee’ is a deceptively simple expression. On one level – and as the name implies – solicitors are paid nothing for their work if they lose, but it also covers agreements whereby solicitors can charge more if they are successful. • Legal
