We are keen to provide open and transparent information in relation to the cost of our legal services provision. Our clerks are able to help you in assessing the appropriate counsel for your case and the likely cost, whether you are a professional or a direct access client. We work upon the information provided by our clients and provided the prospective case is within our areas of expertise – and there is sufficient information – we can give a quote for fees both verbally and in writing, usually via email.
Many criminal clients will be eligible for publicly funded representation through the legal aid scheme. These cases will require the client to instruct a solicitor who will consult with chambers to determine an appropriate barrister for the particular case.
Clients who do not qualify for public funding or who choose to pay privately may instruct counsel of their choice. They may discuss with us the most appropriate counsel for the case – either directly or via a solicitor. That discussion will include counsel’s current and future availability and the likely cost for their services.
We operate two main pricing methods for privately funded work at 2 Hare Court – fixed fee and hourly rates. Sometimes there is a need to use a combination of the two, for instance a trial preparation fee based on the rate per hour and fixed daily attendance fees. Full information will be given by our clerks when consulted and fees generated will be backed up with counsel’s written log of work done.
Factors that will be taken into account when assessing and proposing counsels’ fees include:
We are often asked to agree varied fee structures such as:
We are also amenable to considering differing payment terms, which can be discussed in detail with our clerking team at an early juncture.
Timescales for provision of our legal assistance can be affected by a number of different factors such as:
All barristers at 2 Hare Court, other than pupils, are registered for Value Added Tax and this will be added to their professional fees. They are also all regulated by the Bar Standards Board, covered by Bar Mutual Professional Indemnity Insurance and are registered with the Information Commissioner’s office.
Direct access clients will find more information on the services provided by chambers under this scheme in the dedicated section on our website here. The Bar Standards Board’s ‘Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients’ can be found here.
By way of general guidance counsel who receive instructions directly from a lay client in a summary only motoring offence, can provide advice and representation in the Magistrates’ Court.
These cases are typically in relation such offences as careless driving, driving whilst disqualified or without appropriate insurance, speeding, failing to stop etc. They usually take varying forms;
Cases can be adjourned for additional information or for evidence to be adduced, for pre-sentence or psychiatric reports or by other orders of the court.
You can ordinarily expect to receive any requested written advice within 2-3 weeks unless especially urgent. Our clerks will aim to ensure that the instructed barrister will be available to appear for you at court.
The fees you are likely to be charged are dictated by the particulars needs of you the client, and your case. The case maybe straightforward requiring junior counsel, or it may be of particular complexity necessitating the instruction of senior counsel, even up to the level of Queen’s Counsel.
It is likely that we would be able to charge you a fixed fee for this type of case, either for the whole case, or on an item by item basis, so that you would have a level of costs certainty at the outset.
A typical range of fees, to which 20% VAT must be added, would be:
(up to a maximum of 3 hours, £100 – £1,000 per hour thereafter)
This is a wide range of fees anticipating cases at both ends of the scale, but a more definitive guide will be offered to you on first contact with our clerks. There is however, no set upper or lower limit, each case would be assessed on its own merits. A formal contract between counsel and the client will be drawn up setting out the services to be provided, the fees for these services and payment terms.
In certain circumstances that may arise there may be additional work demanded of counsel which may result in extra costs to the client which you will be advised of at the first opportunity. These may include, but are not limited to: service of further evidence, changes in the client’s case, unforeseen lengthening of court proceedings.
Links to other useful information:
Private instructions are accepted as per the new Standard Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2012 and then updated in 2018 for GDPR.
Please click here for further information on the Bar Council’s website.
There are a number of ways to instruct a Barrister. Direct Access is the process where members of the public are able to instruct barristers directly, without employing a solicitor.
We offer Direct Access trained experts in the following practice areas, depending on availability and the suitability of cases:
There are many benefits to instructing a Barrister direct, such as:
Barristers must have undertaken training in order to accept Direct Access cases. Currently, public funding (legal aid) cannot be used to instruct a Barrister direct. In the event that you are eligible for, or have already been granted public funding for your case, our clerking team can assist by recommending an appropriate solicitors firm.
If you chose to instruct a 2 Hare Court Barrister directly the process is straight forward as set out below:
Licensed Access is where professional organisations or individuals can instruct barristers, either on behalf of clients or on their own account, if they are deemed or declared as suitable to do so because of their professional expertise.
Most qualified professionals who are automatically deemed suitable, such as:
Other professionals can apply to the Bar Standards Board (the independent regulator of the Bar) to be licensed to instruct barristers directly in their areas of expertise, either generally or for particular work.
The Licensed Access Recognition Regulations and The Bar Standards Board Handbook for Licensed can be found here.
We offer trained experts on a Licensed Access basis across all of our Practice Areas and Industry Sectors. There are many benefits to instructing a Barrister direct, such as:
For more information on how we can assist with your case please complete the form below:
2 Hare Court accept instructions from both solicitors and in-house counsel. They are governed by the Standard Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2012.
Our experienced clerking team have extensive knowledge of:
We tailor our service to each client and are outfitted to deal with your queries efficiently and effectively to make sure the correct expert is recommended for your matter.
We continue to strive for improvements in the level of service we offer our clients and welcome your feedback.
Our reputation in the market
We are well known in our specialist practice areas and are recognised as a set in Chambers UK and The Legal 500. Most of our members are also ranked in these directories – details can be found on our Awards & Rankings page.
2 Hare Court offer a full range of advisory and advocacy services to clients across the world, including the ASEAN countries, Hong Kong and mainland China, UAE, Ireland, the USA, Russia, Italy, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands.
We accept instructions on referral from UK or international law firms and directly from foreign law firms, corporates or individuals.
We offer international experts in the following practice areas:
As well as international expertise in the following industries:
We are regularly appointed as Examiners for the purpose of taking evidence for use in foreign proceedings. As well as chairing meetings between multi-national companies and non-governmental organisations.
Experts from our Business Crime & Financial Services group regularly give international lectures on topics, such as bribery and corruption.
Our barristers who practice across various practice areas are fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
2 Hare Court takes pride in the level of service delivered to clients and are proud of our reputation within the legal market. We are constantly seeking to improve our service to clients and encourage feedback at any stage of instruction.
We understand that from time to time our service may fall short of expectations. Therefore it is essential that a formal complaints procedure is in place, enabling any complaints to be dealt with in a professional and sensitive manner.
Should you wish to lodge a complaint concerning our services, the nature of the complaint should be communicated to Julian Campbell, Director of Clerking at 2 Hare Court.
Complaints will be acknowledged within 72 hours of their receipt and will be dealt with according to Chambers’ Policies and Procedures.
We hope that you will use our procedure to resolve any outstanding issues. However, if you are unhappy with the outcome, you have the choice of taking up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. Please see our Procedure for further details here.
The Legal Ombudsman publishes details about decisions they have made. You can find them on their website here.
You can also search for barristers who are authorised to practise on the Barristers’ Register. This is published on the Bar Standard Board’s website here.
Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information collected, stored and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us in the event you need further information.
Members, pupils, mini pupils and staff at 2 Hare Court collect, use and are responsible for personal information about you. When they do this they are the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 1998.
This document sets out how any individual barrister at 2 Hare Court will use and retain your data.
If you need to contact 2Hare Court about your data or the processing carried out you can use the contact details at the end of this document.
When carrying on our business and practices, processing applications or providing references we may collect some or all of the following personal information that you provide:
The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as other legal professionals or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, investigators, government departments, regulators, and public records and registers.
We may use your personal information for the following purposes:
If we have been instructed by you or on your behalf on a case, your personal information has to be provided, to enable us to provide you with advice or representation, and to enable us to comply with our professional obligations, and to keep accounting records.
We rely on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal information:
If you are a client, some of the information you provide will be protected by Legal Professional Privilege unless and until the information becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise. As barristers, we have an obligation to keep your information confidential, except where it otherwise becomes public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings.
It may be necessary to share your information with the following:
We may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without our consent or yours, which includes privileged information.
We may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.
The personal information we obtain may include information which has been obtained from:
If you would like any further information please use the contact details at the end of this document.
We will normally store all your information:
As explained above, we are relying on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (g) to (o) above. You provided this consent when you agreed that a barrister at 2 Hare Court would provide legal services.
You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time, but this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity we have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where we also rely on other bases for processing your information, you may not be able to prevent processing of your data. For example, if you have asked a barrister to work for you and the barrister has spent time on your case, we may owe you money which you will be entitled to claim. The withdrawal of your consent will also not affect the lawful retention of your information for the purposes of a potential complaint or appeal, in accordance with our retention policy.
If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact 2 Hare Court using the contact details below.
Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:
If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.
If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:
We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.
Please note if you wish to unsubscribe from any marketing emails that you have signed up for, you can do so by emailing Julia Fox or the Clerks. It may take 5 working days for this to become effective.
The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners’ Office if you are in the UK, or with the supervisory authority of the Member State where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/.
2 Hare Court does not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on the website.
This privacy notice was published on 14th November 2023 and last updated on that date.
We continually review our privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do it will be placed on the website.
Chambers want everyone who visits the 2 Hare Court website to feel welcome and find the experience rewarding.
To help us make the 2 Hare Court website a positive place for everyone, we’ve been using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities, and user friendly for everyone.
The guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA and AAA). We’ve chosen Level AA as the target for the 2 Hare Court website.
We’ve worked hard on the 2 Hare Court website and believe we’ve achieved our goal of Level AA accessibility. We monitor the website regularly to maintain this, but if you do find any problems, please contact us.
If you enjoyed using the 2 Hare Court website, or if you had trouble with any part of it, please get in touch.