Bluebridges Solicitors

At Bluebridges Solicitors, we pride ourselves on the fact that we do not spring surprises on you with our fees. We carry out an instruction for you on the fee which you would have first agreed with us. This means that there are no surprises down the line.

A fee which we will charge you to undertake a specific service for you will normally depend on factors which will include the complexity of your case, the stage at which you instruct us, etc, but, below, we provide you the range of fees from which we will agree a specific amount which you will pay to us to carry out your specific instruction.

If you cannot pay our agreed fees in full, we will be happy to agree for you to pay us in instalments on the amounts and at the times agreed.

Unless where otherwise indicated, VAT is not charged.

Consultation: We also offer up to 30-minute free consultation. Please note that after this period, there is a consultation fee of £250. This is for a maximum of 1 hour.

Immigration:

• Immigration Appeals to First Tier Tribunal (preparing and lodging grounds of appeal, preparing the case including drafting witness statements) – £1500 to £4000.
• Immigration Appeals Upper Tribunal (preparing and lodging grounds of appeal, preparing the case, including drafting witness statements) – £1500 to £4000.
• Application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK – £1500 to £2500
• Applications under Private Life route (20 years long residence, 7 years continuous residence by a child, including discretionary leave etc) – £1,500 to £2500
• Judicial Review (preparing or responding to Letter Before Action, Claim form, preparing your case including drafting witness statements – £2500 to £5,000
• Application for Naturalisation – £1,000 to £2,500
• Application for leave to remain in the UK as family members of a person present and settled in the UK – £1,500 to £2,000.
• EEA Applications (residence card as a family member of EEA national, retaining rights of residence as a family member after divorce or death, derivative residence card as a primary career, residence card as extended family members, registration certificate as an EEA, permanent residence as an EEA national) – £1,500 to £3,000
• Extension of leave to remain in the UK (on all categories) – £1,500 to £2,500
• Application for UK work visas (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 4 and Tier 5) – £2,500 to £3,500
• Investors Visa – £2500 to £5000
• Graduate Immigration route – £1500 to £2500.

Please note that the fees do not include

1. fees for Advocacy. This will be agreed depending on the nature of case, venue of hearing, barrister’s cost (where one is instructed), etc.
2. Home Office or the appeal filing fee

Please also note that even when you decide to withdraw your instruction at any stage, we will not issue refunds and any agreed but outstanding fees are payable.

What you should expect from us

We are committed to providing you with professional, helpful and effective legal service. The fee which we have first agreed with you will cover all relevant work about your case, which will include:

• Taking initial instructions
• Providing advice on documents which might be needed for your application
• Checking supporting documents for your application or appeal
• Preparing the necessary application/appeal forms on your behalf
• Preparing written representations to use in supporting your application
• Corresponding with relevant offices or persons, such as your former lawyers, MP, etc where this is appropriate in the circumstance
• Sending the application form, representations and supporting evidence to the Home Office
• Representing the client at the tribunal hearings/appeals
• All communication between the Home Office and other offices or persons concerning your application or your appeal until we receive a written decision in your matter.

Time Estimate

Please note that we are unable to provide a specific timescale for when the Home Office of the Tribunal or Court can reach a decision in your application or case. The timescale will normally depend on the complexity of the application/case, or on who is handling it and on their internal case-handling process. By way of a rough estimate, it could take up to 6 months for a Home Office decision in more straight-forward applications, but longer and up to 2 years for more complex ones

Employment Tribunals – Claims for Unfair dismissal or Wrongful dismissal:

Minor complexity case: £3000 – £8000

Medium Complexity case: £8000 – £15,000

High Complexity case: £15,000 – £30,000

Note that these fees will be reduced, in some cases considerably, should you want us to only provide limited service to you. An example would be where you want to handle the case yourself but only want us to provide advice in relation to a stage or stages of the case.

Please, note that

1. unless specifically indicated, VAT is not charged.
2. Unless where a Tribunal Hearing is not to be held in London, we will attend a hearing without an additional charge
3. The fees quoted above do not include counsel’s fee for conducting advocacy. We will make sure that the barristers fee is agreed with you before the barrister is instructed.
4. The above fees do not include disbursements such as any fees payable as tribunal filing fees, expert witness fees, etc

The following is a list of what you should expect from us, except where the nature of your case does not require an item on the list, include:

1. Taking initial instructions from you
2. Where appropriate, writing to your former lawyers to request them to send your documents to us
3. Reviewing your documents and provide advice on the strength -or weakness- of your case. Please, note that the advice on this point may alter depending on how your case progresses
4. Where required, exploring possibilities for reconciliation
5. Instructing counsel as may be necessary, provided you have first agreed to this
6. Preparing and/or reviewing and advising on relevant papers for your case such as
   • Claim or Response
   • Witness statements, including interviewing your own witnesses
   • Bundle of documents
   • Schedule of loss
7. Agreeing a list of issues or chronology
8. Preparation and attendance at a preliminary or a final hearing

Time estimate:

The length of time it will take for your matter to be concluded, beginning from taking initial instruction, will normally depend on the stage the case is resolved. It could take between 2 and 12 weeks to end should it be resolved during the conciliation stage. Where however the case goes to trail, it could take between 12 and 104 weeks. This is an estimate, and we should be able to narrow down the timescale as the case progresses.

                                                                    Debt Recovery Services

As in all other areas of our practice, we charge agreed fee. Where the fees are indicated within a range, the exact fee within the range which you will pay will be confirmed to you in writing after assessment of your case.

Our charges –

Consultation to study paperwork, carry out risk assessment, take instructions, answer questions and give our view of the strengths and weaknesses of your case: £120 – £250

Preparing and sending letter before action as well as dealing with relevant and necessary follow-up correspondence:  £300 – £600

Preparing and filing court papers: £300 – £700

Dealing with pre-trial processes of your case: £700 – £1500

Additional fees which you should expect to be responsible for.

These include: court filing fees, Barrister’s fees, and expert’s fee if one is needed.

Please, note that depending on the venue of the court, you may also be responsible for our transport and hotel accommodation fees. The exact cost applicable for any these expenses will be agreed with you before payment is made.

What we will be doing for you: The work which we will be carrying out for you include –

• Review your paperwork, take instructions, answer your relevant questions, and give our view of the strengths and weaknesses of your case
• Prepare a letter before action and send out, as well as deal with follow-up correspondence where there is clear instruction for us to do so
• Prepare and file court papers
• Liaise with the court, and the opposing party, and deal with pre-trial processes, such as Directions questionnaire.
• Instruct a barrister, based on your instruction to us.
• Attend the court at hearing.
• Where necessary, and if instructed, follow up with enforcement of your judgment

Time estimate: It could take between 2 weeks to 6 months from instruction to the conclusion of efforts to get your debtor to pay, and could take up to 1 or 2 years depending on whether the court will be involved.

Who will carry out your work?

The Director and head of the firm, Emmanuel, will carry out, or have direct supervision of any other dedicated specialist who will carry out your instruction in your cases.

The Director qualified as a solicitor in 2006, with specialist experience in the work areas mentioned above.