Frequently Ask Question

A lawyer is a generic term in the UK which covers both Solicitors and Barristers.

Direct access is an authorisation obtained from the BSB which allows a barrister to take instructions directly from a company or member of public without first instructing a solicitor.

Barristers with direct access cannot conduct litigation unless expressly authorised to do so.  Conduct of litigation is the work normally undertaken by a solicitor which includes stuff like serving and filing documents, going on the Court record, communicating with your opponent and other parties.  If you instruct a barrister under the direct access scheme who is not authorised to conduct litigation then you will need to act as a litigant in person and file and serve documents yourself.

At Mortimer Court we have members who do direct access work and we also conduct litigation so we can undertake all the work that would normally be undertaken by both a barrister and a solicitor.

In nearly all cases we will agree a fixed fee upfront for each stage of your case.  We do not believe open ended hourly rate billing is fair.  Lawyers are in a better position to predicts costs than clients and we believe it is essential a client should now how much litigation will cost before they embark upon it.

When you instruct a solicitor and a barrister you are in fact instructing two experts in the law.  The Barrister and the most senior solicitor.  Between them they will advise you on all legal issues normally with the solicitor deferring to the barristers advice.  Litigation also has a great deal of administrative work that can be undertaken by legal assistants.  At Mortimer Court you are only paying for one legal expert (the barrister) and much of the administrative work is undertaken by legal assistants which, when we calculate fixed fee, we estimate at £100 and hour which is a fraction of the price you will normally pay to have that work undertaken by a trainee solicitor.  We also quote fixed fees and we promote access to justice and we believe you will find our quotes are generally far cheaper than instructing a barrister and solicitor.  We are happy to quote for work so that you can compare our prices yourself.

Using direct access barristers who do not conduct litigation can cause huge disadvantages and inconvenience compared to having someone conduct litigation for you.  That is why we do both.  If your barrister does not conduct litigation you will need to undertake the formal steps of issuing claims and applications yourself.  A barrister who does not conduct litigation cannot file and serve documents, issue applications at court or be the communicating party with the court (known as going on the record).

Unbundling is another way to save money by just instructing your lawyer to undertake key parts of your case and you act as a litigant in person yourself.  This is a very cost effective way to instruct a lawyer but you will be taking alot of the responsibility yourself.  When ever we quote a fee we also advise you whether your case is suitable for you to conduct the litigation yourself and only instruct a barrister for key parts of your case and if so we will quote a fee to work in this way.  We will also quote to conduct the litigation for you so you can decide how you wish to instruct us.

We believe that communication with our client is essential we do not want information third hand and you do not need to pay lawyers to play Chinese whispers.  When you instruct us we will communicate with you however you prefer.   You will always have your barristers mobile number as well as their assistants.  We are happy to communicate by phone, email, WhatsApp or whatever method you prefer.  You will have direct access to your barrister and will be able to discuss any issue you have directly with them.