Ashworth Reid LLP12 St Paul's SquareBirmingham B3 1RB
Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 000000
[Date]
Mr Daniel Hughes7 Elm GroveSolihull B91 3QA
Your matter: Claim against your former employer for unfair dismissal
Dear Mr Daniel Hughes,
Thank you for instructing Ashworth Reid LLP. This letter confirms who we are acting for, what we will do, what it is likely to cost and what you can do if you are unhappy with our service. Together with our terms of business, it forms our agreement with you. Please read it carefully and contact me if anything is unclear.
Who we act for and what we will do
We are acting for Mr Daniel Hughes only. We will advise you on your claim for unfair dismissal against Brightline Retail Ltd, prepare and file your claim at the Employment Tribunal, and represent you up to and including the final hearing.
Our work does not include any appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, or advice on your tax position. If you would like us to do further work, we will confirm the terms and the cost with you first.
Who will do the work
Priya Malhotra will be responsible for your matter, supervised by James Ashworth, Partner. Other members of the team may help where that keeps the cost down. If Priya Malhotra is unavailable, please ask for James Ashworth, Partner.
Our charges
We charge for the time spent on your matter. Priya Malhotra's hourly rate is £285 plus VAT. Other members of the team charge: trainee solicitors £150 an hour, paralegals £110 an hour. We record time in units of 6 minutes, and short letters, emails and telephone calls are charged as one unit. Our rates are reviewed each year and we will tell you in writing before a new rate applies.
We estimate that our total charges for this matter will be £12,000 plus VAT and disbursements. This is our best estimate on what we know now, not a fixed price. We will tell you straight away if it is likely to be exceeded, and we will update you on the costs at least every six months.
Disbursements are costs we pay to others on your behalf. In your matter we expect them to include counsel's fees for the final hearing and the cost of copying the hearing bundle. VAT is charged at the standard rate of 20% on our fees and on any disbursements that carry VAT.
Before we start, please pay £1,500 on account of our charges and disbursements. We will hold it in our client account and pay interest on money we hold for you in line with our interest policy.
We will send you a bill each month, or at the end of the matter if it is short. Payment is due within 30 days. You may also be entitled to ask the court to assess our bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.
If you are unhappy with our service
We want to give you a good service. If you are unhappy with it, or with our bill, please tell Priya Malhotra first. If that does not resolve it, please contact Helen Carter, Client Care Partner, who handles complaints at the firm, by letter or email at the address above. Our complaints procedure is free of charge, and we will send you a copy on request. We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to send our final response within 8 weeks.
If we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks, or you are unhappy with our final response, you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at it. You must do so within six months of our final response, and no more than one year from the date of the problem or from when you should reasonably have known about it. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints from individuals and from small businesses, charities and trusts. Contact: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH; 0300 555 0333; enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
If you are concerned about our conduct, for example about dishonesty or how we have handled your money, you can raise it with the Solicitors Regulation Authority at www.sra.org.uk.
Regulation and your protections
Ashworth Reid LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 000000), and the legal services we provide to you are regulated by the SRA. The SRA's Standards and Regulations, which you can read at www.sra.org.uk, apply to our work. We hold professional indemnity insurance as the SRA requires; details of our insurer and its territorial cover are available on request. If we hold your money and it is lost through dishonesty or a failure to account, you may be able to claim from the SRA Compensation Fund.
Your right to cancel
Because you have instructed us without meeting us at our office, you may cancel this agreement within 14 days of the date you accept these terms, without giving a reason, by telling us in writing. If you ask us to start work within those 14 days and then cancel, you will pay for the work done up to the date you cancel.
Next steps
Please sign and return a copy of this letter to confirm that you accept these terms, with the payment on account. If you give us further instructions before you sign, we will take them as your acceptance.
Yours sincerely,Priya MalhotraAshworth Reid LLP
