Step 1 · The facts
What happened, with documents.
What we do, in detail
Advice, the cost arithmetic, who might pay for it, and proceedings.
Program 01 · Before it escalates
Advice and opinions
Most matters are cheaper to answer than to litigate, and a clear written view of where you actually stand often ends a dispute rather than starting one. Advice can only be given on a specific situation after the facts and documents have been looked at, so nothing here is advice. Where the honest answer is that a claim is weak, that is what you will be told, because paying to hear it now is considerably cheaper than paying to discover it later.
Step 2 · The position
Where you actually stand.
Step 3 · The options
Including doing nothing.
Step 4 · The cost
Of each one, both ways.
Step 1 · The value
What the dispute is worth.
Step 2 · The indemnity
The band that applies.
Step 3 · The downside
What losing would cost.
Step 4 · The decision
Taken knowing both.
Program 02 · The real number
What it costs either way
If you win, the other side pays a procedural indemnity: a lump sum fixed by royal decree according to the value of the dispute, within a range the court can move inside on a reasoned request. It is a contribution, not reimbursement, and it commonly falls short of the actual fees. If you lose, you pay theirs on top of your own lawyer. That combined figure is what should decide whether to litigate, and it is the one least often put in front of people.
Program 03 · Asked at the start
Who might pay for it
Two questions belong at the first meeting rather than later. Whether you may qualify for second-line legal aid, and whether a legal expenses insurance policy you already hold covers this matter. People are routinely insured for exactly the dispute they are paying for privately. And a point that surprises almost everyone: under such a policy you choose your lawyer. An insurer cannot impose one on you.
Step 1 · Legal aid
Whether you may qualify.
Step 2 · The policy
Whether one already covers it.
Step 3 · The choice
Yours, under any such policy.
Step 4 · The route
Whichever costs you least.
Step 1 · The approach
Negotiation first where sensible.
Step 2 · The offer
Weighed against cost, not pride.
Step 3 · Proceedings
If they remain the better route.
Step 4 · The report
What happened, and what it cost.
Program 04 · Settle if better
Negotiation and proceedings
A settlement that is worse than your case but better than your costs is often the right answer, and saying so is part of the job. Where proceedings are necessary they are conducted properly, with the exposure kept in view throughout rather than mentioned once at the start. Time limits matter more than most people realise: a limitation period can extinguish a right regardless of how strong it was, so a matter that may be time-sensitive should be raised early.
Something you need a straight answer on?
A first conversation, with no obligation.