OUR FEES

At Gerard McDermott KC Ltd, we aim to offer quality legal services at competitive prices. There are a number of ways in which fees may be charged. Ultimately, we want to find the solution that best suit our clients.

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We will accept instructions which are privately or publicly funded and, if appropriate, on Conditional, Damages Based Fee and/or Contingency Fee Agreements. We are happy to discuss fee structures with you and aim to be flexible and transparent in our approach to fees.

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We will ordinarily consider fees on a case-by-case basis. Numerous factors need to be taken into account when deciding on the appropriate fee structure for a case, including risk, complexity, geographical location (of the client and the court where the matter may be litigated) and the seniority of the appropriate Barrister or Solicitor required for your case (or a combination of the two).

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Commonly used fee models: 

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Personal injury cases - Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs) – commonly referred to as ‘no-win-no-fee’ agreements.

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We may agree to deal with a case on a ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’ (CFA) basis. That means we would only get paid a fee in the event of winning the case.  That would include the initial consideration of the case.

If we do not consider a case to have sufficient prospects of success and will not agree to take the case on under a CFA, then we would ordinarily waive our fee.

Alternatively, it may be that we agree to review the matter initially on a privately paid basis and then agree to deal with your case thereafter on a CFA basis.

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Privately paid work

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For privately funded instructions, we will charge either a fixed fee for a piece of work or an hourly rate, depending on the nature of the work.

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Fixed fees

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We may agree the fees for a particular piece of work in advance of that work being done. Where fees are agreed in advance of the work being done, we may ask you to agree to pay the fee before carrying out the work.

Where it is not appropriate to agree the fee in advance, an estimate will provided to you. We may also place a ceiling on the fee to be charged for certain work so as to provide you with some certainty.

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If, when finding out more about the case, we consider the work that is proposed will take longer than the time agreed, we will contact you to arrange and amend the contract.

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Factors affecting our fees: 

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Our fees will be charged according to the level of experience of your lawyer, the complexity of the case and the length of time involved in dealing with it. The time at which fees become payable will be agreed on a case by case basis.

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Court hearings

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Depending on how soon before a hearing you instruct us, we are likely to ask you to pay our agreed fee whether or not the hearing goes ahead (i.e. the case may settle soon before the hearing). We may however reach an agreement as to if and how the fee should be paid.

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Terms of Acting

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If we are able and willing to take a case on and have agreed the basis for charging our fees, then we will send you an agreement setting out our contractual terms. That agreement will set out: what work will be done; the fees and basis of charging for the work; the time it will take and any deadlines which may need to be met.

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Timescale of providing legal services:

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Factors which may influence the timescale of our legal services include the nature and complexity of the matter, the availability of appropriate evidence and our work load at the time of enquiry.

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