HOW TO MINIMISE LEGAL COSTS

It must be appreciated that in the provision of services solicitors only provides their services based upon time spent. It is the time that we sell and the value of our time is based upon the experience and expertise in our field. It is therefore sensible for you as a client to make use of that time wisely.  

It should be borne in mind the costs of your matter can to a large extent be controlled by you. Often the reason for having exceeded our own costs estimate is due to clients having frequent and excessive attendances with us which were not necessary. We recommend the following simple ways to make our work easier and reduce the time we spend which in turn will keep your costs to minimum: -  

1. At the outset of your matter provide all the information you have in your possession at the time. If you do not know what is relevant it is better to provide it anyway so that we can determine the relevance rather than withhold the information in case it may affect our assessment or advice on your matter.  

2. If possible provide ALL the information in a comprehensive and written statement so that we do not have to incur time in taking own notes at meetings or reduce the need for us to revert to you for clarification or further information.  

3. Provide other than the most routine of instructions in writing to us where ever time permits. You can correspond by letter, fax or email to us. This may not always be appropriate but as it makes no difference to your fees whether you telephone or write to us it is better to write as it reduces the possibility of misunderstandings and may reduce the need for us to contact you at a later stage if we have a written record from you.  

4. Respond fully and promptly to all instructions and documents requested by us. If we have to send reminders repeatedly for instructions or copy documents it will add to your charges.  

5. In cases where the papers are bulky it is helpful if you can organise them in an orderly fashion and provide us with a list of the documents you are sending to us. It is cost effective for you if we spend less time in organising your documents and recording each item received and more time in reading them! Please retain a copy of all documents you send to us so that you do not find it necessary to revert to us for copies.  

6. Telephone calls - usually one of the primary causes for inflated costs. Each telephone call is charged for and therefore it helps to reduce your costs if your telephone calls to us are kept to a minimum :  

- try to deal with as many queries or points in one telephone call rather than call us several times during the day or week for each query.  

- you do not normally need to telephone us for an update in your matter. Whenever there is anything to report we shall contact you. In litigation matters there may be period of time during which you have not heard from us for a few weeks. Do not worry we will not have forgotten you! This is simply because there will have been nothing to report to you. It is not usual for there to be continuous activity throughout your case. It is not cost effective for example to telephone us on a daily basis to ascertain whether a reply has been received to correspondence as this will increase your costs. It is our responsibility to contact you when there is any news to report in your case and be rest assured that we will endeavour to do so 48 hours of receiving any important correspondence if it considered urgent. We will usually send you copy correspondence of any importance for your records so that you are kept informed, although routine letters received on which we do not need your instructions may not be copied to you, eg letters of acknowledgement.  

7. If there are any things that you can do yourself, do them rather than ask us to do them at your expense! For example in a divorce case certain assets may need valuing eg shares or an endowment policy.