Our Fees

Because of the sort of work we do, it’s not always easy to work out how your case will go, or how much it will cost. However, what we can do is keep you up to date with what your costs are. We can provide you with itemised monthly bills to keep costs manageable.

We base our fees structure on the fees the Court of Session in Edinburgh (the Scottish supreme court) reckons are fair for work done in the sheriff courts.

 

To keep things totally transparent, here are our charge rates for the different types of work we do in all cases.

 

Description of Work	Fee (excluding VAT) and basis of charge	Charge including VAT (20%)
Revising papers	£10.50 per 5 sheets	£12.60
Citing a witness or party	£21.00 per citation	£25.20
Copying	£0.50 per sheet	£0.60
Drafting documents (court writs etc.)	£21.00 per sheet of up to 250 words	£25.20
Drafting affidavits	£42.00 per sheet of up to 250 words	£50.40
Downloading & printing documents	£1.70 per page	£2.04
Letters or e-mails	£21.00 per page of up to 125 words	£25.20
Certifying or signing a document	£10.50 per document	£12.60
Notarising documents	£30.00 per document	£36.00
Telephone calls – over 10 minutes	£42.00 per quarter hour	£50.40
Telephone calls – 10 minutes or less	£21.00 per call	£25.20
Time spent on case – Solicitor	£42.00 per quarter hour	£50.40
Time spent on case – Clerk/Paralegal	£21.00 per quarter hour	£25.20
Lodging or collecting items at court	£10.50 per item	£12.60

 

Explanatory Notes

 

1. “Sheets” are charged at the full rate for the first, with a further charge at the full rate for each sheet or portion of a sheet beyond that. For example, drafting a document 200 words long is charged as one sheet. A document 251 to 500 words long is charged at two sheets and a document 501 to 750 words long, three sheets and so on. The same applies to “pages” for letters.
2. “Quarter hours” are charged in a similar way to sheets and pages. For example, twelve minutes spent on work will be charged at one quarter hour. Between sixteen and thirty minutes is charged at two quarter hours, thirty-one to forty-five at three quarter hours and so on.
3. These charge rates apply from 26.01.2021 but are subject to review from time to time. If they change, we will do our best to contact current clients to let them know and update this page.
4. We bill cases monthly and you will be provided with an itemised account detailing what work has been done, when, by whom and for how much. We may ask for a payment “up front” which will be held at credit on your account and fees deducted from that when invoices are sent out to you while your case goes on. In addition, if there are no fees outstanding when the bill is sent out, you will be offered the opportunity to pay the fees with a 10% discount if the bill is paid within 15 days. This will let you budget for expenses now and make fees and expenses more manageable for you.
5. Compound interest is chargeable on accounts rendered/invoices which remain unpaid for more than 30 days. Interest will be calculated at the base lending rate applied from time to time by TSB Bank plus 3%.
6. In addition to fees, it may be necessary to incur bills on your behalf. Examples of these are fees charged by the civil courts at various stages in a court action, or witness expenses if applicable. Whether these are chargeable in certain types of case depends on instructions you give us. If at any time you need details of these, please let us know.
7. The total cost of your case will depend on how much work is done. We will only do work which is:
   1. necessary on your case, such as work required under court rules or practices and work in order to protect your position in court;
   2. work which is advisable to try to achieve the result we have discussed with you or to comply with Law Society of Scotland rules and guidance on best practice; or
   3. work which is carried out on your instructions.

We will keep you posted on what we are doing and, if you have any questions about what work is being done, or the direction the case is taking, please ask.

8. Obviously, in the types of cases we deal with, we cannot tell exactly what work is going to need to be done. It depends on the approach taken, for example, by other side or the court, together with what instructions you give us as well as other factors outwith our control. This means that we cannot accurately estimate what the total costs of your case will be. If you need an estimate (and we have to stress that it can only be an estimate) of costs at any particular stage, please let us know. This will always only be given in writing, however, and will only cover the work that can reasonably be anticipated at the time we give it.
9. If you’re worried about fees, just contact us. We’ll do our best to help.
10. If your financial circumstances change, let us know right away. Some cases may be eligible for some help with fees under the legal aid schemes. However, we can only apply for legal aid if we have up to date information and legal aid only becomes available from the date the Scottish Legal Aid Board approve any application: it is never backdated to cover any work which has already been done. That still needs to be paid for privately.