Criminal Law Department Transparency Rules
The Solicitors Regulation Authority require us to comply with certain regulations concerning information provided to potential clients who wish to be represented in certain motoring matters.
The Transparency Rules relate to cases that can only be tried in the Magistrate's Court which are dealt with in one hearing. These are Summary only motoring offences under Part I of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and s89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.
For Magistrates and Crown Court cases that are not covered by these regulations and where legal aid is unobtainable, we will give a written estimate of our charges before you decide to instruct us and before you incur any costs. Our current fees can be found here.
This is how the RMNJ Solicitors Criminal law department complies with the Transparency Regulations relating to single hearing Magistrates only motoring matters under the above Acts:
The wording of the rules we have to comply with and our responses are below.
Costs information
The total cost of the service We will undertake these cases for a fixed fee of £550 plus VAT and disbursements.
Disbursements are expenses we have to pay out on your behalf. We will tell you what these are in advance.
Travel longer than 30 minutes is charged at £50 per hour plus VAT.
A description of and cost of any likely disbursements
If there are any disbursements, we will discuss these with you beforehand so you know exactly what the cost will be. Note: we don't make a profit on disbursements, we only charge you the actual cost we have paid for the expenditure agreed by you in advance.
Whether any fees or disbursements attract VAT and the amount
VAT is charged for our services but not for disbursements.
Details of what services are included in the price displayed including key stages of the matter and likely timescales for each stage and details of any service that might reasonably be expected to be included in the price displayed but are not
Our Service
The service we give in such cases includes the following:
- Considering the evidence
- Providing advice in relation to plea ["guilty or not guilty"]
- Explanation of the sentencing options open to the court and where possible, we will tell you the sentence we expect to be handed down by the court.
- Advice on representations we can make to the court on sentence, where the court has a discretion such as exceptional hardship or "special reasons" for not disqualifying a driver who would otherwise be disqualified from driving or disqualifying for a shorter period e.g. because they would lose their job e.g. HGV driver.
- Up to a total of 30 minutes travelling time.
- Representation in court at a single hearing
The fixed fee does not include:
- instruction of any expert witnesses taking statements from any witnesses advice and assistance in relation to a "special reasons" hearing advice or assistance in relation to any appeal
- More than one hearing
- Preparation for or representation in a trial
Key Stages
The key stages of your matter are based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and have a date for your hearing.
- Meet with your solicitor to provide instructions on what happened.
- We will consider initial disclosure, and any other evidence and provide advice.
- Arranging to take any witness statements if necessary (this will have an additional cost, of £100 plus VAT per statement).
- We will explain the court procedure to you so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing, and the sentencing options available to the court.
- We will conduct any further preparatory work, obtain further instructions from you if necessary and answer any follow up queries you have.
- We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this depends on the court listing for that day.
- We will attend court on the day and meet with you before going before the court. We anticipate being at court for up to half a day.
- We will discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will carry an additional cost.