We believe in providing you, our clients, with a clear, transparent, detailed and competitive cost estimate of your matter as soon as reasonably possible upon accepting to take on your case. We strive to ensure that our charging rates are very competitive and, in the main, we are able to out compete most of our central London competitors on price. Indeed we believe that we are able to provide a City of London standard service at less than City rates. We have achieved this by concentrating on making our operations as efficient as possible, by cutting out waste, by consolidating our operations and by achieving a fair profit margin.

While we try to provide you with an accurate estimate of the likely cost of your case at the start it may not always be possible to do so. For example, we may need to consider key documents, or investigate the matter further before we can ascertain a clear understanding of your case. The factors that we will take into consideration in pricing your case include:

• the time needed to conduct the case
• the factual and legal complexity of the case
• the level of experience and expertise the case requires
• the financial and non financial value of the case to you
• the risk involved to you and to the firm in taking the case
• your financial/economic means

Fixed Fees

Many of you may prefer to be offered a fixed fee for your case. We try wherever possible to accommodate this by providing as accurate as possible a fixed fee at the outset of the case subject to the factors stated above. We will explain to you clearly how we have arrived at the fixed fee estimate and what circumstances, if any, we may alter the fee at a later date, if, for example, the case becomes more complex than we had initially anticipated and/or will take up more of our time and resources than we expected.

Hourly Rates

Where we cannot agree a fixed fee for the case we will offer you the choice of instructing us on an hourly basis. For the current fiscal year, and in the absence of an agreement with you to the contrary, our hourly rates are in the region of £195 for the principal partners and £145 for assistant solicitors. These rates are reviewed annually and the review will take into consideration several factors including:

• market rates
• any changes in taxes and duties
• any changes in our overheads
• the experience of our current staff and any new staff recruited
• your financial/economic means
• the currency of payment you choose.
• profit margins we need to achieve

Any new rates will be introduced on 1 st April each year.

Disbursements & Expenses

Disbursements are additional expenses which do not form part of our fees but which are essential to the progression of your case. In addition to paying for our time and expertise you may also be asked to bear additional costs in your case. These may include:

• court fees
• search fees
• experts fees
• barristers fees
• interpreters/translator’s fees
• travel expenses

Value Added Tax (VAT)

VAT is a tax levied by the government for our services. Most of our client’s will be charged a rate of 17.5% on our fees. This figure is then surrendered to the government and does not therefore form part of our profit. VAT may also be levied on some disbursements.

You may be VAT exempt, because, for example, you are domiciled outside the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area. In such cases you may not be charged VAT on our services.

At the start of each case we will discuss with you the level of VAT that our fees will attract, if any.

 Invoicing:

Whether we agree a fixed fee or charge you on an hourly basis we will provide you with a detailed invoice (bill of costs) at key stages in your case. This usually happens on a monthly basis. Our invoices will show you:

• a description of the work that we have carried out on your case
• the amount of time that we have spent on your case
• the charging rate agreed
• any disbursements incurred on your behalf
• any VAT applicable

Payment methods

We accept payment by any of the following methods:

• cash in all major currencies
• cheques
• Postal Orders
• BACS/CHAPS/bank transfers
• all major credit and debit cards

Our bank account details for BACS/CHAPS/bank transfers payments are:

MSLegal Solicitors Client Account
HSBC Bank PLC
High Holborn Branch
London, UK

Sort Code: 40-03-27
Account No.: 83664449

Payment on Account

Where you make payments to us on account of costs and not as part of a fixed fee such payments will be held in a client account separate from the office account until the work for which you have paid has been completed and we have issued with an invoice for it. Our client account details are given above.

For more information please contact: finance@ms-legal.co.uk