Crime Fees

A breakdown of our Crime Fees

As a law firm that is fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, MTG Solicitors has a legal duty to be completely transparent regarding its fees. This duty is in line with our firm’s values, which is to be honest and transparent with our clients at all times.

Free 30 minute consultation

We begin every new client relationship by offering a free 30-minute consultation. During this time, we find out about your legal matter and quickly establish whether we are the right firm to help you. This is also the time when we discuss whether you may qualify for legal aid.

Our free consultation is designed to ensure you understand our processes and we have the opportunity to provide you with an estimate of how much our services will cost. You will receive this information in a Client Care package which will be sent to you if you wish to instruct us.

Can I get legal aid?

You may be entitled to receive legal aid to pay your legal fees.

To determine whether someone qualifies for criminal legal aid you need to consider both

Merits – the interests of justice test (IoJ)
Means – financial eligibility

Merits: interests of justice (IoJ) consders the merits of the case – for example, a person’s previous convictions, nature of the offence and the risk of custody – to determine if an applicant qualifies for legal aid. The more serious the charge or possible consequences for a defendant, the more likely that their case will qualify for legal aid (Crown Court trials are deemed to automatically satisfy this test).

Widgery criteria

The interests of justice test determines whether a client is entitled to legal aid based on merits. As part of the test you must consider the ‘Widgery critera’ and decide which of the following applies to your case:

it’s likely I’ll lose my liberty
I’ve been given a sentence that’s suspended or non-custodial: if I break this, the court may be able to deal with me for the original offence
it’s likely that I’ll lose my livelihood
it’s likely that I’ll suffer serious damage to my reputation
a substantial question of law may be involved
I may not be able to understand the court proceedings or present my own case
I may need witnesses to be traced or interviewed on my behalf
the proceedings may involve expert cross-examination of a prosecution witness
it’s in the interests of another person that I’m represented
any other reasons

Means

In addition to passing the interest of justice test, to get legal aid a defendant must be financially eligible to qualify for legal aid as set out in The Criminal Legal Aid (Financial Resources) Regulations 2013.

Means testing considers a defendant’s financial position based on:

household income
outgoings
capital and equity

Passporting

Applicants will passport the means test to automatically get free legal aid if they’re under 18 or receive:

Income Support (IS)
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Universal Credit (UC)
State Pension Guarantee Credit
income-based Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

They must also pass the IoJ test. As shown above some applicants will automatically pass this.

Financial eligibility calculator for criminal legal aid (XLSM, 82.5KB)

You can click on the above calculator to quickly check if you are likely to pass the means test. The calculator may be particularly useful if you’re trying to estimate eligibility for more complex means cases or to estimate contribution levels in the Crown Court.

Our free consultation includes assess for you if you qualify for legal aid or not

If you do not qualify for legal aid wherever possible, our Criminal Law lawyers work on a fixed fee basis. This means that we calculate how much advising and representing you on your matter will cost and provide you with a quote. The quoted amount for the work listed will not vary. If additional work needs to be carried out we will send you a new quote for the additional work. You will never receive any ‘unexpected’ charges on any of our invoices.

If you do not qualify for legal aid or if you wish to instruct us privately on a matter then please contact us to discuss fee. We accept private instructions for Police Station, Magistrates and Crown Court work.

Motoring Offences

Where you wish to instruct us privately for a Motoring offence our cost is as following-

1. Advice (no attendance at Court)

Where you have received letter from Court requesting you to formally respond and confirm your plea in writing to a driving offence charge our fee which will include attending you, perusing the papers, taking instructions, advising you and completing the form. The fixed fee is £150 + VAT (20%) = £180, this work is carried out by Qualified Crime Solicitors. Work will include-

60 Minutes Consultation
Discussing the case and considering any paperwork you may have received
Advising on the most appropriate plea in light of the evidence and instructions
Informing you as to the Court procedure so that you know what to expect on the day of your hearing
Advice on sentencing guidelines
After this meeting you can chose whether you wish to instruct us to act for you further and the following fees will then apply.

2. Advice and Assistance (Guilty Plea Attendance at Court)

Where you have received postal requisition/ been charged with a driving offence and required to attend Court in person our fee which will include attending you, perusing the papers, taking instructions, advising you, requesting the evidence from CPS, attending the Court hearing and representing you at Magistrates Court where you wish to enter a Guilty plea our fixed fee is £600 + VAT (20%)= £720 + travelling expenses this therefore includes-

Review of all paperwork
Pre Court consultation via telephone or in person
Preparation of Mitigation
Fee covers one hearing date, irrespective of how long the hearing takes
Attendance and representation at a single hearing at the Magistrates Court by one of our experienced Solicitors

If your matter does not conclude on the same day and the matter is adjourned for sentencing on another date for example for a pre-sentence report then our fixed fee for additional 2nd hearing is £400 + VAT (20%) = £480 + travelling expenses- this fee is fixed fee and does not limit the number of hours at may take at Court.

This work is carried out by Qualified Crime Solicitors or Barrister only

3. Advice and Assistance (Not Guilty Plea, Trial -Attendance at Court)

Where you been charged with a driving offence and you wish to plead not guilty and have a contested trial. We shall charge you a fixed fee of £2000 + VAT (20%)= £2400 plus travelling expenses. This will include preparation and representation at the First Hearing and the First Trial Listing.

This fee will include

Meeting with you to discuss your case and advising you of the merits of your case
Considering the evidence in your case and any disclosure and advising you of the same
Taking your detailed instructions (Proof of Evidence)
Taking witness statements from any defence witnesses
Obtaining interview tapes and preparing transcripts where necessary
Advising you of the Court procedure and sentencing options
Reviewing Prosecution Evidence and making representations to the Crown Prosecution Service where necessary

Complying with Court directions
Considering the Prosecution’s Unused Material.
Taking further instructions from you where appropriate and advising you on any further queries
Drafting Defence Case Statement if appropriate
Instruction of a barrister if we are not able to attend ourselves
Initial advice on appeal against conviction and sentence

If your matter does not proceed to Trial on the first trial listing, this will incur additional fees.

If you are convicted but sentenced on the same day there will be no additional fees however if your sentencing is adjourned for another date, then there will be additional fees of £400 + VAT (20%) = £480 + travelling expenses.

Please note that the above fee does not include disbursements such as fee of an expert for them to prepare a reports such as blood alcohol concentration report, Expert report for, examination or analysis, drink driving, laced / spiked alcohol, failure to provide reports etc

How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes to conclude any matter will depend upon whether a guilty plea is entered or the matter proceeds to trial of a full court hearing.

Any proceedings for summary only traffic offences must be “issued” within 6 months of the offence date. How quickly proceedings are issued or cases listed depends on which Court deals with the case and how busy that court is. Each stage of the proceedings has a time frame which must be adhered to:

Notice of intended prosecutions (NIP) must be served upon the registered keeper of a vehicle within 14 days of the incident;
NIPs must be returned within 28days failure to do so is an offence carrying 6 points;
Court proceedings must be issued within 6 months;
Single Justice Procedure Notices must be responded to within 21 days.