We believe in cost certainty and transparency in determining our fees. At the outset of your case, we will provide you with an assessment of your fees. There will be no hidden costs or surprises at the conclusion of your case.

Where possible, we operate a fixed fee system and will agree on the fee with you in advance of your case. This provides you with certainty that your case will not cost you any more than agreed and allows us to concentrate on the task of obtaining a successful outcome on your behalf.

In more complex cases and for those requiring our highest possible level of service and personal representation by the firm principal, we carry out work on an hourly basis. In those cases, we will provide a very clear estimate of costs from the start and will keep you updated on the costs throughout your case.

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Legal Aid:

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For the majority of Civil Litigation, Family, and motoring offenses, save for the most serious offenses where a person is at risk of a custodial sentence legal aid is not available and is also subject to a person's financial eligibility. Therefore in the majority of cases, a person wishing to have legal representation for their motoring case will have to fund their representation privately.

At Douglas Legal Services we do not undertake work on a legal aid basis as this allows us to provide the best possible level of representation and to secure the best outcomes for our clients.

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Recovering your costs:

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When we successfully defend your case before the court we will seek to recover your costs by way of a defendant cost order. A defendant cost order should be awarded unless there are clear reasons for not doing so. Once the court has made a defendant costs order, your file will then need to be submitted to the National Taxation Team who will decide what proportion of your costs will be refunded to you. If you instruct us to do so we will prepare and submit this application on your behalf or we can provide you with a copy of your file.

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Time to Pay:

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We appreciate that the cost of legal representation is not always affordable, but believe that everyone should have access to high-quality installment legal representation and justice. If you have difficulties paying our fees in one instalment, please speak to us about staged payments.