All members of Pendragon Chambers provide legal services on a contractual basis pursuant to the Bar Council’s Standard Terms and Conditions unless expressly agreed, or otherwise varied, in writing.
Fee Quotes Our clerks are your point of contact to agree counsel’s fees. They will agree the basis on which counsel’s fee will be charged. Quotations, in clear and understandable terms, will be provided in all cases where sufficient information has been provided. VAT is added to all fees.
By “sufficient information” we mean that we are able to quote a meaningful range for the legal services in question. If more information is required in order to provide a fee quote, we will ask you to provide it.
In most cases quotations are provided within 48 hours. We liaise with counsel before providing a fee quote and their availability is often limited due to other professional or personal commitments. If you do require a response sooner please let us know and we will discuss alternative solutions with you. We don’t make a charge for providing a fee quote.
We do not offer Public Access cases on any form of conditional, deferred or contingency fee basis. Fee in direct access cases are paid in advance.
Pricing options
- Hourly Rates Our clerks will advise you of the hourly rate (charging an amount of money per hour) applicable to any piece of work. This will range between £200 and £300 plus vat per hour and will be confirmed, in advance, taking into account the nature of the case, the legal complexities and volume of paperwork involved, its complexity and the seniority (experience) of the barrister involved.
- Fixed Fees In advance of any work being done (eg advisory work, drafting or appearance in court), our clerks will agree a fixed fee (a set amount of money) for each piece of work and we will use counsel’s hourly rate as a guideline for agreeing the fixed fee. That agreed fee must be paid before delivery of the work.
- Brief and Refresher Fees These apply where court, tribunal or ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) hearings (eg: Mediation) are required. They are assessed and agreed taking into account the nature of the case and its legal and factual complexities together with the experience of the barrister instructed. A brief fee would usually include all counsel’s preparation for trial and the fee for the first day in court. The refresher fee(s) are a fee, fixed in advance which will cover each subsequent day at the hearing, including ongoing preparation.
A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server and only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences or what’s in your shopping basket.
What to do if you don’t want cookies to be set
Some people find the idea of a website storing information on their computer or mobile device a bit intrusive, particularly when this information is stored and used by a third party without them knowing. Although this is generally quite harmless you may not, for example, want to see advertising that has been targeted to your interests. If you prefer, it is possible to block some or all cookies, or even to delete cookies that have already been set; but you need to be aware that you might lose some functions of that website.
Our privacy policy is designed to tell you about our practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of information that you may provide via the PendragonChambers.com website.
Ways that we collect information
PendragonChambers.com gathers information relating to site usage. Any information gathered is primarily for internal use to allow us to refine and improve our customer service.
Cookies
We use cookies on our site for the purpose of compiling web statistics and to enable our mapping features to function correctly. Cookies are pieces of data created when you visit a site, and contain a unique, anonymous number. They are stored in the cookie directory of your hard drive, and do not expire at the end of your session. Cookies contain no personal information about the user, nor does our website elicit or store any information from users other than the Internet Protocol address of the computer used to access the site. If you turn off cookies on this site, some enhanced mapping features may not be available.
Google Analytics
This website also uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (‘Google’). Google Analytics uses ‘cookies’, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
Complaints will be dealt with promptly in accordance with procedure. A formal complaint must be made as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 6 (six) months of the act being complained of, or within 6 months of the end of any informal action taken, save in exceptional circumstances.
Informal Complaint Resolution
You may wish to make a formal complaint in writing. If so, please follow the procedures below. However, if you would rather speak on the telephone about your complaint you may either contact directly the member of chambers against whom your complaint is directed or, alternatively, the Head of Chambers or Senior Clerk.
The individual to whom the complaint is made will note your complaint in writing. Attempts will then be made, where appropriate, to resolve the complaint made. If the complaint cannot be resolved, you are invited to make a formal complaint, in writing to the Head of Chambers, within 14 days.
Formal Complaint Resolution
All formal complaints are to be made in writing to the Head of Chambers (or where this is not appropriate, to another senior member of Chambers). Details of the complaint should be provided, including the nature of the complaint and against whom it is made. This information will be forwarded to the Chambers Complaints Panel immediately upon receipt.
Complaints will be dealt with promptly in accordance with procedure. A formal complaint must be made as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 6 (six) months of the act being complained of, or within 6 months of the end of any informal action taken, save in exceptional circumstances.
The complaint will then be investigated by the Complaints Panel. This investigation will be dealt with promptly, in accordance with Chambers’ complaints procedure. Chambers will aim to investigate any complaint received within 28 days of its receipt. At most, any complaint made will be resolved within 6 months of receipt of the complaint, save in exceptional circumstances.
You will be notified, in writing, within 7 days of Chambers receiving your complaint of the identity of the individual members of the Complaints Panel. You will also be told of the date and time when the panel will be convening to consider your complaint. You will be invited to attend this meeting if you so wish, or, if you prefer, a representative of your choosing may attend on your behalf.
Once the complaints Panel has concluded its investigation and reached its decision(s) you will be notified, in writing, of this panel’s findings. This will include, where appropriate, details of remedial/ disciplinary action ruled upon by the panel. You will be notified of this within 14 days of the decision, unless there are exceptional circumstances preventing this.
Confidentiality
Please note that all conversations and documents relating to your complaint will treated with the strictest confidence and will be disclosed only when such disclosure is necessary for the proper investigation of you complaint. Disclosure will be confined to the members of the complaints panel and the person(s) against whom the complaint is made.
Unlawful Racial & Sexual Discrimination
Where your complaint alleges unlawful racial or sexual discrimination by a Member of Chambers against you, in addition to the complaints procedure provided by Chambers to resolve this matter, you are reminded of your entitlement to apply within 6 months of the discriminatory act to the County Court to seek appropriate recourse there (for complaints to the Industrial Tribunal for Chambers employees this period is reduced to 3 months from the discriminatory act). You are encouraged by Chambers to consult the Commission for Equality or the Equal Opportunities Commission for further advice as to your rights and entitlements in these circumstances.
Informal Advisor
Chambers will nominate at least one senior member of Chambers to act as informal advisor to potential complainants and to assist in the formal resolution of grievances. This will apply whether or not the potential complaint is to be made formerly. You will be advised as soon as reasonably possible of the identity of your advisor and how contact will be made.
Our complaints procedures are available to the lay client as well as those organisations directly instructing a Member of Pendragon Chambers. A lay client may complain directly to Chambers, they do not have to complain via their Solicitor.
Further or Alternative Avenues of Redress
For those who are unhappy about using Pendragon Chambers’s procedures for making complaints, or, alternatively, for those dissatisfied with the decision reached by the Complaints Panel following the resolution of the complaint, you may wish to contact the following:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870
Birmingham
B30 9EB
Tel; 0300 555 0333
Email; enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Members of these chambers, governed by the Bar Code of Conduct, may only give advice, or provide legal services, on a specific case or other legal matter if instructed to do so by any one of the following :
A solicitor;
A member of a recognized professional body on the list of organisations approved by the Bar Council;
A person who appears on the Bar Council’s list of those licensed to access the bar directly;
A qualified foreign lawyer;
A member of the public, subject to the Bar Code of Conduct’s requirements in respect of Direct Access work.
Any information about, or commentary on, the law contained on this web site is provided free of charge and is for information purposes only. We make every effort that we reasonably can to ensure that such information and commentary is accurate. However no member of chambers will take responsibility for accuracy, or for any consequences arising out of any reliance on such information or commentary.
