The following groups are invited to contact the clerks to enquire about instructing our barristers:

• Solicitors;
• Licensed Access clients, who may either hold a licence issued by the Bar Standards Board, or be a member of a professional body which has been recognised by the Bar Standards Board; and,
• Members of the public who wish to instruct a barrister under the Public Access scheme.

We will provide quotes for fees as soon as possible and will clearly set out the basis of the quotes. Please contact our clerks if there is something about our quote which you do not understand.

The clerks will provide quotes for fees based on the information provided to them, so it is important they are given a clear picture of the amount of work that might be required, any urgent timescales and the key aspects of your case.

Some fees maybe agreed on the basis of being a fixed fee, however, the majority of non-legally-aided cases will be charged on an hourly-rate basis.

A limited amount of cases our barristers receive will be accepted under the terms of a conditional fee agreement (CFA) – often referred to as ‘no-win, no-fee’. No barrister is obliged to accept cases on this basis and we advise that you first discuss a potential CFA case with our clerks.

If you have any questions about whether you have legal insurance available to you to cover your costs and/or provide funding in relation to your legal costs then please read the guidance provided by Legal Choices.

Many cases we deal in family work, at St John’s Chambers are funded by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). It is important to note barristers must be instructed by a solicitor with a legal aid contract in these cases, the Public Access scheme does not include legally-aid matters. A solicitor will advise as to eligibility for legal aid, however this link will provide helpful information: www.gov.uk/check-legal-aid.

Pro Bono work refers to cases that are accepted by some barristers for which they will carry out work without charging a fee. There is no obligation on any barrister to accept a case on this basis. If this is something which you would like to investigate for your case then this service is most usually provided through the ‘Advocate’ Scheme. For more information on the scheme please follow this link or call 020 7092 3960.

In all privately-funded cases, whether accepted on the basis of a fixed fee or hourly rate there are factors which increase the amount of work involved and the fees charged.

Some of the influencing factors include:

• The seniority of barrister instructed on your case. More experienced barristers are likely to charge a higher level of fees than a more junior, less experienced barrister.
• The volume of papers involved and/or the complexity of the factual and legal issues involved.
• Work required within short timescales which may require the barrister to prioritise a case over others, and to work out of normal working hours will usually incur higher levels of fees.
• Case significance. Cases of particularly high-profile in terms of consequence, impact and also those with media interest may require a high level of fees.
• The length of time the barrister is required at court.
• The amount of travel time required for the barrister to attend court and any case conferences.

Our clerks will always discuss the likely level of fees required in each case. Should you be concerned about the level of fees that may be involved in your case please speak to the relevant barrister’s clerk at the earliest opportunity.

We will always aim to inform you if a barrister is required to carry out more work on the case than originally estimated, and will then revise the fees accordingly. Please note that the most accurate fees can be quoted if full details are given to our clerks when you are first instructing one of our barristers.

Timescales can vary significantly from case-to-case. They are affected by such things as the type and complexity of the matter, and also the availability of the barrister. We will always provide an estimate of timescales and it is important that our clerks are informed at the time of enquiry of any relevant time limits and deadlines.

Please click here for full information about Public Access cases which we accept at St John’s Chambers.

Further guidance documents are also available here from the Bar Standards Board.

We hope that our clients will always be happy with the service we provide, however, some cases do not always end with the outcome hoped for by the client.

Should you be have any concerns or complaints about the services provided by a barrister at St John’s Chambers, or a member of our administration team, then you should please refer to our complaints procedure, and submit your complaint, in writing, to Isabelle Mills, Manager, Business Support Services.

You may at any time refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman whose website is available here. The website fully sets out how your complaint will be handled and processed. For further information you can also search the Ombudsman’s Decision Data page. This data provides details about decisions made by the Ombudsman in relation to all providers over the previous 12-month period.

Each of our barristers at St John’s Chambers has in place professional indemnity insurance to cover all the legal services they offer.

Barristers at St John’s Chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board.

Further information about all barristers, such as whether they have a current practising certificate or any disciplinary findings against them, can be found at the Bar Standards Board Barristers’ Register.

St John’s Chambers and each of our barristers are registered with the Information Commission’s Office.

A copy of this factsheet is available for downloading and printing by clicking here.

Please contact us if you require this document in an alternative format.

Review date: July 2022