We have been providing legal advice and representation to individuals and businesses for almost 30 years. Contact us to speak to one of our highly experienced team of lawyers to discuss your needs and offer a solution tailored to your requirements. You are in safe hands.
Funding and Prices
We want to give you the best information about our fees from the very beginning.
Fees and Funding
Initial Consultation
To enable us to understand your case and your objectives, we offer a one hour no-obligation fixed fee consultation with a solicitor. It enables us to consider all your options carefully and advise you on how best to proceed.
Our one hour consultation fee is £210. This fee is inclusive of VAT. (For those who are not required to pay VAT, the fee exclusive of VAT is £175). This fee does not include the costs of an interpreter, if you require one and there will be an additional costs for interpreting. Interpreters’ fees will attract VAT.
The meeting can take place in person at our offices or over Zoom or Teams if that’s more convenient for you. We will arrange an appointment with the most appropriate lawyer according to the information you have provided to us about your case. The appointment will be with a solicitor or partner. We will discuss your legal case with you, your options, any timescales and costs. Before the meeting, we will consider any papers or information provided by you by email. After the meeting, we will send you a written note setting out our advice and our estimated fee quotation for any further work.
To book a consultation, please use our contact form.
If you instruct us for further work within one month of the consultation, we will deduct the consultation fee from any further fees.
How we calculate our fees
If you instruct us for further work, we will provide you with an estimate of our fees.
Our fees are calculated according to how many hours it will take us to complete your legal work and the seniority of the lawyer instructed. We may charge a supplement for urgent or out of hours work. Once we have assessed your case and determined how many hours of work will be needed, we will offer you a fee quotation with the option to pay in two instalments.
Our hourly rates range from £100 per hour (excluding VAT) to £300 per hour (excluding VAT) depending on the seniority of the lawyer dealing with your case. Our rates are as follows:
Lawyer | Rate |
|---|---|
Partners and senior supervising solicitors | £234 - £300 |
Solicitor-Advocates and supervising solicitors | £229 -£269 |
Solicitors | £175 - £195 |
Senior caseworkers and trainee solicitors | £125 - £195 |
Junior lawyers | £100 |
As some of our clients are not liable to pay VAT, our rates are shown exclusive of VAT. However, if you are liable to pay VAT, the fees charged will incur VAT. The current rate is 20%. VAT is payable in addition to the fee.
Information about whether VAT is payable in your case is here. You can read about our team here.
Types of work we do
Immigration and nationality applications
This includes:
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Applications for British citizenship either by children (registration) or adults (naturalisation)
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Applications for visas to enter the UK by partners and family members
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Applications to remain in the UK (extensions of stay or settlement in the UK)
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Appeals or applications for Administrative Review of any of the above
Civil Claims
This includes:
What's included in the fee
Our fees will depend on the seniority of the lawyer you choose to assist you and how long it takes to prepare your case. The number of hours required will depend on your individual circumstances and the complexity of your case. We will always set out in writing the scope of work covered by the fee quotation. The fee will usually include:
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An initial meeting with you to discuss your case and consider any documents provided by you
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Providing you with a list of evidence that will be needed in support of the application
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A further meeting to check your documents and advise on any issues
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Preparation of any supporting witness statements (if needed) and commissioning additional
evidence (if needed) -
Preparing legal representations in support of the application
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Completing the online application form, submission of the form and facilitating payment
of the Home Office fees -
Booking your biometric appointment and uploading any supporting documentation ahead of
your appointment OR handing you an application pack for submission -
Reporting the decision to you
The fee does not include:
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VAT
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Attending Home Office appointments or interviews. Should this be required, we will agree
an additional fee with you. -
Any further work after submission of the application. We will always agree a fixed fee with you for any additional work.
As an example, an initial application in any of the above categories is likely to require 8-16 hours’
preparation.
An average case, based on a solicitor carrying out the work, taking 10 hours, would attract a fee of
£1750, excluding VAT. If a partner undertook similar work, the fee would be £3000, exclusive of
VAT and if a junior lawyer conducted the work, the fee would be £1000 exclusive of VAT. Often
more than one caseworker conducts work on a case and the fess charged will reflect the seniority of
the person who has carried out the work.
Timescales
Our priority is to conduct your work as effectively as possible. Timescales for Home Office decisions
vary but details can be obtained from the Home Office website. Visa decision waiting times:
applications inside the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Appeals
If you receive a negative decision and instruct us to represent you in your appeal, our fees will include:
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Considering your application, the refusal and advising you on the merits of an appeal
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Advising on the appeals process
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Lodging the appeal
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Preparing the Appellant’s bundle and Appeal Skeleton Argument
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Advising you on the Respondent’s review and responding as needed
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Obtaining a quotation of fees for and instructing an in-house Advocate or external Counsel
(barrister) to represent you at your appeal hearing and having a meeting beforehand
(conference).
The fee will not include:
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Court fees
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Counsel’s fees or in-house Advocate fees for conference and representation
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VAT if applicable
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Other disbursements
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Case Management Review Hearings or additional hearings
As an example, preparation of an appeal is likely to require 10-20 hours’ preparation.
An average case, based on a solicitor carrying out the work and taking 12 hours would attract a fee of £2100, excluding VAT and any fee charged by an advocate for representation in the Tribunal.
Please contact us for fees related to asylum, Judicial Review or Upper Tribunal work.
If for any reason after work has commenced, the case does not proceed, we will charge a proportion of the fees, being the reasonable costs of the work conducted, plus VAT if applicable.
Value Added Tax (VAT) will generally be applied to legal fees where the applicant is or has been lawfully resident in the UK. It will also be applied to all disbursements, except counsel fees, where the supply attracts VAT and where the supplier is registered for VAT. The rate of VAT is usually 20%. Counsel’s fees will attract VAT if the applicant is resident in the UK.
If you think you are not eligible to pay VAT, please let us know and we will assess your circumstances. If you arrived in the UK without valid leave and have never held any valid leave since arrival, you may be exempt from paying VAT. If you are not resident in the UK, then you will not be liable to pay VAT on our legal fees or counsel fees.
Our quoted legal fees relate to our work only and do not include disbursements. Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. Some disbursements are handled by us to ensure smooth progress of your case. You will pay these to us and we will then pay them to the third party These are:
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Expert fees, including medical reports and country information reports*
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Interpreter/translation fees*
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Barristers’ fees (where needed)*
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Travel expenses
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Court fees
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Courier fee
Some disbursements will be payable directly by you to the third party such as:
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Home Office application fees and service fees
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Immigration Health Surcharge Fees
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Appointment booking fees
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Biometric enrolment fees
As an example, the cost of interpreting starts at £25 per hour or £0.76 per minute for telephone interpreting. VAT is generally payable on the costs of interpreting. If you require interpreting or translation of documents, a quotation will be obtained and provided to you before the appointment.
If you need an interpreter, please note that it is likely that the numbers of hours interpreting required will be equal to the time spent with your legal representative.
Translation is usually charged per number of words.
Whether or not VAT is applied to a disbursement will depend on the disbursement type. Those marked with an asterisk* may attract VAT.
For a no obligation fee quote or to book a consultation, please contact us.
Conditional Fee Agreements (“CFA”s) may be available in certain types of cases. We will consider working under a Conditional Fee Agreements in some Upper Tribunal or High Court cases or in Civil claims. We will assess the merits of your case to see if this is an available option. If we enter into such an agreement with you, you may be liable to pay some or all of our costs.
Please contact us to enquire whether a CFA may be suitable for your legal work.
Legal Aid is available in some asylum, immigration and public law cases. To be eligible for legal aid, your legal matter must fall within the type of case set out in Legal Aid legislation. In most cases this does not apply to immigration and nationality applications, but it does apply to asylum claims, domestic violence cases, immigration applications by victims of modern slavery, bail from immigration detention and applications for judicial review. There are also financial eligibility requirements.
Sutovic & Hartigan solicitors are contracted by the Legal Aid Agency to provide legal aid in a limited
number of immigration, asylum, public law and claims against public authorities.
The best way to check if your matter is covered by legal aid and whether you are financially eligible is
to check the government’s legal aid calculator.
Once you have confirmed you are eligible for legal aid, please contact us to see
if we are able to assist you.