Legal Fees and Court Costs

The costs of defending yourself are often the concern of many people when faced with a criminal investigation.

It is important to consider the following costs:

• Your legal fees
• Defendant’s costs order
• Prosecution’s legal costs
• Victim surcharge

Your Legal Costs

Whatever the alleged offence, our legal experts provide a reduced fee initial meeting starting at £220.00 plus VAT (£264.00 incl VAT). If you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss your situation, please contact us.

Unfortunately, we do not act for people by way of Legal Aid, as considerable experience has shown that doing so can result in limitations on what may be done upon your behalf and affect the service that can be provided. Any work undertaken therefore will be privately funded by you. During the reduced fee initial meeting, if you wished to instruct us to act for you, our legal experts will be able to provide a legal costs estimate at the outset. This will then be confirmed in writing.

Our legal costs vary depending upon the nature of the alleged offence and whether it is to be dealt with in the Magistrates Court or the Crown Court.

Prosecution Legal Costs

If you are convicted of an offence, the Court may make an order for you to pay the Prosecution’s legal costs in an amount it considers just and reasonable.

The amount of the Prosecution’s legal costs will vary dependant upon the offence in consideration and at what stage you are convicted. If you plead guilty at the first opportunity, the Prosecution’s Legal Costs will be considerably less than if you are found guilty following trial.

If you are acquitted, you will not be required to pay the Prosecution’s legal costs.

Victim Surcharge

If you are convicted of an offence, the Magistrates Court or Crown Court must also order you to pay a Victim Surcharge.

The amount payable depends upon the sentence given, whether or not you are under 18 years of age and whether the offender is an individual or organisation.

The Victim Surcharge ranges from £17.00 to £190.00.

Defendant’s Costs Order

If you pay privately for your representation and are subsequently acquitted, or if a charge against you is dropped, you may be entitled to a Defendant’s Costs Order (“DCO”) to enable you to be reimbursed for a proportion of your legal costs out of central government funds.

If you are eligible for a DCO, our team of experts will assist you in this process and submit any claim on your behalf.

It is highly unlikely that a DCO will cover 100% of your costs, which will be assessed centrally by the government, and thus you should expect to be reimbursed only a percentage of the fees you have incurred.