*Please note that we do not offer Legal Aid at this point in time. In the first instance, please contact us to find out if you are eligible. We can put you in touch with someone if you are. If you are not eligible, you can just stick with us!
We offer very competitive private rates for the advice and representation we provide. We offer fixed fees for certain undefended divorce actions. For all other cases our hourly rate is £225 + VAT per hour (£270 in total). If you call around you will find that this rate is very competitive in terms of other family law specialists. We should make it clear that our competitive hourly rate has absolutely no bearing on the quality of the service and advice we provide, quite the contrary.
We are able to charge less because we have invested heavily in case management software and other technology to run an efficient legal practice which focuses solely on Family Law. This keeps our overheads low. Your case will primarily be dealt with by one solicitor who will be assisted by support staff. We fully recognise that clients want the same person dealing with their case from start to finish and that is something we aim to achieve in most cases.
Where we are different is that our charges are based on the actual time spent on your case. This includes all telephone calls, meetings, reading emails, sending emails, letters, text messages, travel, perusing paperwork, waiting, court appearance.
You will find (and feel free to call around) that the vast majority of family solicitors charge in terms of number 1 or 2, whilst we charge in terms of number 3:-
- Time and Line – This method of charging uses a mix of charges based on units of time and the number of words in certain documents.
- Time (Units) – The solicitors break their hourly rate into units, with each unit representing 6 minutes of time. If you call your solicitor for 1 minute, you get charged for a full 6 minute unit. If you have a meeting for 7 minutes you get charged to units representing 12 minutes of time.
- Time (Actual) – Where we are different is that if you call us for 1 minute, you get charged for 1 minute. If you meet with us for 7 minutes you get charged for 7 minutes. If it takes us 30 minutes to prepare a court document you get charged 30 minutes.
Please see the worked example below
Worked Example
The charges in this example are based our hourly rate of £225 + VAT (£270) on the following items of work:-
- 31 Minute meeting.
- Letter to other solicitor of 250 words.
- Preparing court papers comprising 750 words
Now, lets apply each charge type:-
Time and Line (Most popular charging method)
- 31 Minute meeting = £162
- Letter to other solicitor of 250 words = £67.50
- Preparing court papers comprising 750 words = £405
Total = £634.50
Time (Units)
- 31 Minute meeting = £162
- Letter to other solicitor of 250 words (7 Minutes) = £48
- Preparing court papers comprising 750 words (1 hour) = £270
Total = £480
Time (Actual) – Rooney Family Law
- 31 Minute meeting = £139.50
- Letter to other solicitor of 250 words (7 Minutes) = £31.50
- Preparing court papers comprising 750 words (1 hour) = £270
Total = £441
We appreciate that legal fees will be one of your biggest concerns. We pride ourselves on being open and clear with our fees. We operate a system which produces a monthly breakdown of the work undertaken and the applicable charges. We normally operate a float whereby you pay an amount upfront so that your file is in credit to be worked on. In cases where that is not possible, we will discuss deferring payment until a specific time i.e. when a property sells.
We are happy to accept instalment payments and accept payment by credit card, online transfer, cash, cheque or any other means.