IMPORTANT TERMS - JOHN BROWN DIRECT ACCESS CASES - THESE ARE IMPORTANT AND YOU MUST READ

My hourly rate for preparing a case is £225ph and should you wish me to do work such as drafting - I will have to see how much is involved and then i can quote for 1, 2 ,3 etc hours to do the work.

I have fees to attend court for less than 1/2 day (local to me) 1/2 day, 1 day etc The fees will depend on location, travel costs, type of case and how long listed for. 

BY READING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ARE AGREEING TO THESE TERMS

ALL FEES ARE + VAT.

FEE INFORMATION CLICK HERE 

The fees within are indicative and will depend on the type of case and complexity. I will try in all matters to set a fixed price, or I will agree for  work to done in 1 or more hours at my hourly rate.

Note that if I agree to prep your case - prep does NOT include drafting e.g.Witness Statements, Position Statements, Skeleton Arguments etc. 

I am ALWAYS willing to beat any written quote you have from any other Direct Access Barrister to attend a hearing.  TRY ME

1. I provide all clients an initial 15 minute free consultation if you are seeking to instruct me. All other time will be charged. 

2. If I think I can take on your case and once you send me papers it appears that I cannot take it on, I may still charge you fees.  E.G. If you have prepared a case yourself and once I read the papers, I simply cannot understand the case you seek to progress, I will be entitled to retain or bill 1 hour of my time (currently £225 +vat) for having had to peruse the papers to reach that decision.

3. I cannot pay court fees or e.g. experts fees - YOU have to sort that out.

4. I cannot pay E-Filing fees, I can load the papers onto your account and leave them in the basket so you can pay the court fees. If your case is one that needs to be loaded into E-Filing you will need to open a free account. 

https://efile.cefile-app.com/login?referer=%2F

5.   I will ONLY come on the record for high value civil claims. 

6. Anything you send to me must be sent by post or by email DO NOT SEND case materials by WhatsApp or text.  The only emails to use are jb@barristerjohnbrown.co.uk and jaynie@barristerjohnbrown.co.uk 

7. Do NOT embed documents into emails, they must be sent as separate attachments for each document, and they must be named so I can see what they are - if I have to read multiple documents and rename them as they have not been done in terms of these terms, I shall be entitled to charge my time for doing so.

I only accept WORD and PDF documents, you can use the website I LOVE PDF to change other format docs (free) into PDF.

I do not use Apple products so all documents you send me must be able to be opened in MS Windows.

8. If you have very large documents to send electronically, use the website TRANSFER NOW - which is free. I will NOT accept multiple emails with part a documents within each for me to then try and join up.

9. If you are booking me to just attend a court hearing you will be billed a one-off fee for that work - the agreed fee is then for me ONLY to,  

1. read the hearing bundle,  
2. meet you at court about 45 minutes before the hearing, and 
3. to act for you at the hearing. 

The agreed fee DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY OTHER WORK. 

IF YOU WANT OTHER WORK DONE (E.G draft a Skeleton Argument, preparing a hearing bundle, further consultations, or for me to e.g. vet or draft witness statements THAT CAN BE AGREED BUT WILL BE AT AN ADDITIONAL COST. 

If I am instructed just to attend a court date, I do not expect clients  to keep calling or sending emails - if you do that the time for those emails and calls will be billed at my current hourly rate - £225ph plus VAT (or part thereof). 

I cannot contact the OTHER SIDE for you (be it an individual or a solicitor) if I am not on the record, you will be a Litigant in Person. 

10. If you are booking me just to attend court, I require a 25% deposit to be paid to book the date, NOTE until you pay that deposit, the date is just PENCILLED IN. 

If you do not pay that deposit within 2 days of receipt of invoice, other bookings may be taken, and your case will be taken out of the diary. 

If you have taken up time other than the 15 minute free consultation that I offer, you agree that I can charge you for that time, even if I then take a booking from someone else. 

11. The deposit is refundable if you cancel within 14 days, or if the Court vacates the hearing on it own basis, otherwise it is NON refundable.

12. The balance of the invoice for me attending court MUST be paid at least 3 working days before the hearing date and you MUST send an email to:

jb@barristerjohnbrown.co.uk and jaynie@barristerjohnbrown.co.uk 

to confirm the payment has been made. I will NOT chase you for payment. 

If you do not pay your invoice at least 3 days prior to your hearing, I reserve the right not to attend the hearing.

13. I charge my time based on the Court Order so e.g. if an Order states that  a case is listed for 3 days but it then concludes after 2 days, NO REFUNDS are given.

14. If on attending court for a 10am start, we are told by 10.30am that the case will not get on that day, I will refund 50% of the attendance fee for that day. 

If we wait at court and are eventually told that a case will not go ahead, I will only then refund any fees you have paid should the matter be listed for 2 or more days. i.e. the 1st day will be forfeited, and I will refund the remaining days.

15. I will indicate travel and hotel costs when I take a booking, but if they increase when I book them you agree to pay the difference. These costs are also payable 3 days prior to the hearing.

16. John Brown  will only take calls between 8am to 6pm weekdays (the office number is only open from 9.00am to 5.00pm but all messages will go to voicemail and calls will be returned the following morning, should you chose to leave a message) and you may call John (only) on Saturdays between 9am and 11am if urgent. 

17. If I attend court, I will plan to be there between 45 minutes and 1 hour before the hearing start time. 

18. If you want me to take over a case where you already have solicitors acting, I cannot do any work until you send me the full case papers. I will charge 1 hour of my time to decide if I can take on such a case - 

AFTER I REVIEW THE CASE PAPERS IF I THEN INDICATE I CAN TAKE ON THE CASE YOU MUST THEN DISMISS THE SOLICITORS .