ICL Commercial Law Ltd is an innovative legal services provider that utilises the Legal Services Act 2007 to the advantage of our clients. The major benefits to the client are that they gain access to the best in legal advice and advocacy skills whilst making huge savings in fees.
Most people are aware of the conventional route to legal services which is to approach a firm of solicitors for advice. Large firms of solicitors often have fee earners who specialise in specific areas of law and command fees running into several hundreds of pounds per hour. The specialist fee earners will be able to provide advice to a point and may need to seek detailed specialist advice from counsel. This presents a position where the client is expected to pay the solicitor and the barrister, in essence paying two fees to gain access to specialist advice.
For many years solicitors were the only people who could issue instructions to counsel. The Legal Services Act 2007 has changed this. One of the changes is that clients can now instruct counsel direct under a new scheme known as “Public Access”. Provided that your chosen barrister has completed a “Public Access” course he, or she will be able to accept your instructions.
This sounds too good to be true and to a certain extent it is. Barristers may well take the client’s instructions but there are certain tasks that barristers cannot perform, for example taking witness statements to be used in proceedings or having conduct of litigation. Barristers taking instructions under the “Public Access” arrangements will very often insist that the client uses the services of a solicitor to do the work the barristers are prohibited from doing or don’t like to do.
Within the UK every individual has the right to conduct their own litigation, in essence people can complete their own legal work (do the work the solicitors do) and instruct counsel. The problem people are presented with is that they lack the required legal knowledge to adhere to the protocol as defined by the Civil Procedure Rules. They cannot complete all of the paperwork without falling foul of the rules.
ICL Commercial Law Ltd is a specialist commercial law firm, we are not solicitors. We assist people and companies who wish to have access to the best in legal services. We assist clients to conduct litigation, we draft witness statements, affidavits, court forms, instructions to counsel, prepare evidence and attend conferences between the client and counsel. In essence we complete all of the administrative tasks in strict compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules and the barristers provide the specialist legal advice and represent the client in court.
The benefit to the client is that they are assured of the best advice and the best in advocacy skills for a fraction of the cost involved in securing legal services through the old fashioned route.