Fixed Price Service
Take Immediate Action With Our Expert Commercial Litigation Team
One of the biggest frustrations many people have with lawyers is a lack of cost certainty.
Depending on the complexity of commercial litigation or other matters, legal fees and costs can add up quickly.
If you’re like many of our clients, you may prefer the certainty of a fixed price for legal services.
When the scope of work is clear — and the outcome almost certain — a fixed price will be close to what you would pay if billed hourly.
While fixed price services may not save you money, having set legal fees allows you to budget accordingly.
And you don’t have to worry about accruing additional costs every time you call or email your solicitor.
No Win No Fee Eligibility Calculator
This is a non binding indication whether Helix Law Ltd might be able to offer you a "No Win, No Fee" agreement (also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement, or CFA). There is no cost of obligation for using this service and each case is assessed on its merits.
Area of work
We only enter into CFA funding agreements in relation to some commercial, property and construction disputes. We therefore need to understand what type of dispute you have so that we can assess whether a CFA might be appropriate.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
Is the value in dispute more than £10,000?
This is important because typically it is only possible to recover legal costs, including costs funded on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ (or ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’), where the amount in dispute is over £10,000. If you have a dispute where your losses and damages are less than £10,000 it is unlikely we can offer you a CFA.
The dispute is:
Generally speaking tenants will not own assets. That means you might ‘win’ but not recover damages and costs- even if the court orders the tenant to pay. Whereas if your dispute is with a property owner we can usually recover your costs and damages from their share of the property.
Is your claim about an unpaid application for payment and/or retention greater than £20,000?
This is important as it helps us assess the likely cost; benefit for you, and our ability to offer you CFA funding.
Do you have a contract in writing or registered shares in your name?
The more evidence you have in support of your allegations, the better your prospects of success. The higher your prospects of success, the more likely we can offer you a CFA funding arrangement.
Is the issue arising recently or within the last 6 years at most?
All disputes are subject to limitation periods- this is the period of time in which a claim must be issued. Most limitation periods in our work are 6 years. There can be exceptions and upto 12 years is possible, but this is a factor that can increase risk to you and to us and might lead to us declining to offer a CFA. With the passage of time memories can/will also fade, and evidence can be lost or destroyed. Acting promptly can therefore be important.
Does the opponent own property in England and Wales?
We want to ensure we can force your opponent to pay if they refuse to pay. If your opponent has assets, usually property, we can have greater confidence of recovering money, property, or assets (or all the above), for you. Otherwise there can be risk that you have a good claim with good prospects of success, but if your oppoennt doesn’t own anything, you might not recover damages or losses.
Thank you for filling out the form
Based on the form, we think there is a good prospect we will be prepared to offer you a No Win No Fee agreement (CFA). Please confirm your contact details and a member of our team will contact you usually within 1 hour during usual business hours.
However, for more complex legal matters, cost certainty comes at a price.
You’re likely to pay more for a fixed price service than you would if billed hourly or on a monthly retainer basis.
It’s impossible for a law firm to accurately estimate how many hours their team will spend on complex matters in commercial litigation.
To minimise the risk of working unbilled hours, solicitors will charge more for fixed price services — if they offer them at all.
At Helix Law, we consider fixed price arrangements for complex pieces of work.
But it may end up costing you more money in the long run.
For straightforward legal services, we quote various fixed prices. For example:
Contract of employment |
From £350 |
Staff Handbook |
£500 plus VAT |
Shareholders Agreement |
from £1,250 plus VAT |
Possession |
from £2,500 plus VAT |
Construction Adjudication |
from £4,000 plus VAT |
We’re always happy to consider different payment options to meet our client’s needs.
For example, you may want us to charge you a fixed price for one step in a commercial dispute, such as drafting a claim form.
The fixed cost depends primarily on the complexity of the work and how much money you claim in the dispute.
In complex litigation, fixed price arrangements are often not possible due to the inherent uncertainty of a dispute in its early stages.
Not being offered a fixed price can work to your benefit.
For instance, suppose a solicitor quotes you a fixed price based on the assumption that the case will go to trial. Contrary to that expectation, the other party agrees to a settlement after only a few days or weeks. In this case, you would pay much more under a fixed price arrangement than you would have paying by the hour.
Another possibility is a capped fee arrangement. Helix may agree to fix a maximum price for the work with a high likelihood of a successful outcome. That way, you know the maximum amount you have to pay but also get the benefits of cost savings if the matter settles early.
By offering fixed or capped prices, we can provide clients with cost certainty.
Whether we agree to fix or cap costs for a specific matter depends on the particulars of the case.
Fixed Recoverable Costs
From 1 October 2023, a Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC) framework has been applied to litigation valued up to £100,000. This applies to some of our work, though not all.
Although there are exceptions, the historical position was that the losing party would pay the winner’s costs as well as their own, often subject to detailed assessment after the trial or outcome.
Under the FRC framework, some disputes are now subject to fixed recoverable costs. The recoverable amount varies depending on the case’s complexity and the work completed.
If you are involved in issued court proceedings and consider FRC may apply to your case, we’d love to speak with you.
Many firms are concerned by fixed recoverable costs; we aren’t.
We have been working on internal efficiencies and the use of technology and automations for a number of years precisely because we understand how important it is that our time (and your money) is spent on only the highest-level decision-making functions and processes.
Each case and situation varies, but in many instances, the fixed recoverable costs can be higher than the costs we actually incur.
If your risk appetite for legal costs is low and the scope of work is relatively certain, fixed and capped prices are a distinct possibility.
Recent developments and rule changes indicate that fixed fees are becoming more prevalent in commercial litigation. We work within this framework and are at the forefront of offering multiple payment options to our clients — including alternative, risk-based, fixed and capped pricing.
Contact Helix Law today. Let’s have an informal discussion about your legal requirements, and we’ll advise you of your payment options.
We aim to respond to all queries within an hour.
Above all by making our clients strong and by sharing their risk we get better results.
Request A Call Back
People frequently tell us that we’re approachable and offer great advice.
They also tell us most solicitors are hard to get hold of whereas we’re happy to listen. The reason for this is that we value long term relationships and we’re happy to speak with business people, to invest our time in understanding your business and whatever your concerns are. Only at that point can we understand whether we’re the right people to help you.