We aim to provide a highly professional and cost effective service that is unique in the education law market place. Set out below are a number of reasons as to why we feel that we are different and best placed to work with you.
1. Free no obligation discussion regarding your case and estimate of costs
Unlike almost any other law firm or consultancy, we will not stipulate that you have to meet us in our offices before we give you an estimate and then charge you anything up to £250 for the privilege of meeting us for 60 minutes.
We will discuss your concerns with you over the telephone as part of a no obligation conversation at a time convenient for you (evenings and weekends included) and then give you an estimate based on an hourly rate or fixed, or capped price.
2. All costs inclusive of VAT
We do not believe a client is interested in seeing a figure that is not the figure they will end up paying. All our prices, whether they be hourly rates, are inclusive of VAT so what you are told you are paying is what you will pay.
3. Fixed or capped fees
Once we have discussed a case with you we can provide you with a fixed or capped figure, again inclusive of VAT, based on the circumstances of a case.
We have two levels of case – standard and complex.
The fixed or capped cost includes a range of our expenses that many other firms will leave out of a fixed or capped cost, such as travel expenses, accommodation and subsistence. Other costs such as expert witnesses or Counsel’s opinion will incur additional charges.
4. You only pay for the work that has been done
We appreciate that fighting a SEN or other education-related legal battle can be expensive.
We therefore have a system of staged payments whereby you will only pay for the work we have completed for you. We ask only for a 20% up front retainer on a fixed or capped price or two hours worth of time on an hourly rate contract.
The charges we operate with effect from 1st April 2009 are as follows:
- Hourly rate work range (inclusive of vat) £140 to £195 per hour (depending on staff member allocated to your case.)
- Fixed or capped fees:
• Standard SEN case – £5,250
• Complex SEN case – £6,750
Both of the above fees are inclusive of VAT.
Compare this to other providers available and you will see that at least two of our competitiors are offering complex capped fees at £8,500 and £12,500 respectively. Our price is £6,750.
By the way, with one of those companies, you will be asked not to ring before 2pm while the other insists you spend £250 for a one hour meeting before you can get the fixed fee price!
5. Fair Pricing policy
We operate a Fair Pricing policy in that we do not charge for straight forward tasks that can be done in a matter of seconds (i.e. listening to voicemail messages, making brief phonecalls, or sending/reading relatively short emails.) We only charge for what we consider to be substantial tasks. Some companies are unreasonable in this respect and will charge for such simple tasks; for instance, £6.00 for reading a brief email message.
Call us on 020 8523 0887 or email enquiries@school-legal.com for more information
