Caines Law have over three decades of experience dealing with driving offences. This extensive experience coupled with our excellent client care and determination to secure the best outcome for our client’s results in a lot of our work coming through by way of referrals and repeat instructions from past clients. All our work is prepared by specialist motoring Solicitors. We do not employ any paralegals or assistants. This provides our clients with the peace of mind and reassurance in knowing that they have only knowledgeable and qualified Solicitors working on their case, ensuring they are in the safest hands possible.
There is no legal aid available for the vast majority of driving offences. As such, if you are looking for legal representation, there will be a need for you to pay for your fees privately.
As a firm we only deal with privately funded cases and as such fully appreciate the service level expectations of our clients. We strive to ensure not only that you obtain the best outcome but also that you are left with the feeling that you obtained the best representation.
Our clients can pay for their legal fees on an hourly basis which is based on our hourly rate assessed on time spent on preparing the case. However in the majority of instances, our clients prefer to pay their legal fees on a fixed fee basis. This latter option not only provides our clients from the outset, full knowledge in respect of the full extent of their legal fees but in most instances the capped fees result in the legal fees being considerably less than if they were assessed on an hourly basis given that a not insignificant amount of time is spent by us in the preparation of all our cases.
We offer a payment plan in most cases and this allows clients to pay for our fees during the life of the proceedings.
The service we offer falls into the following three categories for the purpose of explaining our fixed fees:
Investigation Stage (£750 to £1000 plus vat)
In many instances our clients are not certain as to whether they have a defence to a particular allegation. There may be instances where they do not believe they were travelling at a speed alleged by the police. Similarly there may be occasions where our clients genuinely do not believe they have consumed alcohol to the level indicated by the breath test result or that they have not been given a warning of prosecution by the police at the time of the breath test procedure. These are just a few examples of endless possibilities where we are instructed to investigate whether there is a defence available for our clients in order to allow them to defend the allegation faced.
We offer the following as part of the Investigation Stage:
- Secure and comprehensive review all the prosecution evidence available and adduced
- Obtaining a detailed statement from clients and their witnesses in respect of the case
- Where necessary and applicable obtain an expert report to assist with the defence
- Liaise and communicate with the police/ CPS and Court in the preparation of the case
Having fully investigated the case, if it transpires that a defence is available then we would advise the client to plead Not Guilty and to then proceed to defend the allegation/s. However, if it transpires that no defence can be advanced to the allegation then we would advise clients to plead Guilty and would advance detailed mitigation and hardship on the clients’ behalf in an attempt to secure the most lenient sentence.
Written representations (£500 plus vat)
The work essentially carried out at this stage consists of all the preparation for Guilty plea but excluding representation at Court. We always encourage our clients to instruct us for Court representation also as it is important that your case is presented by a specialist advocate. This will ensure in the best outcome being obtained. However, if finances are limited or you feel confident in presenting your own case then at the very least we would suggest that you instruct us to ensure your case is well prepared by our experienced solicitors.
The work undertaken at this stage includes but is not limited to the following:
- Comprehensive review all prosecution papers available and adduced
- Obtain a detailed account/statement from the client
- Meticulous preparation in respect of mitigation and hardship with the aim of securing the most lenient sentence
- Gathering supporting evidence to strengthen the case where appropriate and preparation of character references
Guilty plea (£900 – £1500 plus vat)
In circumstances where there is no defence available to our clients, we will advise them to plead guilty, preparing their case with the objective of securing the most lenient sentence and the best possible outcome in the circumstances. This often results in no disqualification being imposed. The fees we charge for a guilty plea range from £900 through to £1500. This is dependant however on the offence in question which impacts the extent of preparation necessary and whether there are multiple offences involved. This is also dependant on whether there is additionally a need for an Exceptional Hardship argument to be advanced at Court or in the event of multiple court hearings being attended in person.
The work undertaken at this stage includes but is not limited to the following:
- Comprehensive review all prosecution papers available and adduced
- Obtain a detailed account/statement from the client
- Meticulous preparation in respect of mitigation and hardship with the aim of securing the most lenient sentence
- Gathering supporting evidence to strengthen the case including witness statements and where appropriate, preparation of character references
- Where appropriate, securing medical evidence and / or reports
- Preparing our clients on Court procedure and what to expect at Court
- Representation at Court by a specialist barrister/advocate
Not Guilty plea / Special Reasons/ or Appeals in the Crown Court (£1750 – £7500 plus vat)
Where we advise our clients to plead Not Guilty/ Appeal or where the circumstances fall within the ambit of a special reasons hearing, the extent of work carried out is significant and this is reflected in the legal fees. The fees charged are dependent on a number of factors such as the charge itself which impacts the extent of preparation required, the need for different avenues to be investigated and prepared for, the requirement for multiple witnesses (individuals and experts) etc. The more serious offences such as drink driving and dangerous driving attract fees closer to the top end of the range.
The work undertaken at this stage includes but is not limited to the following:
- Comprehensive review all prosecution papers to establish any defences or technicalities
- Obtaining a detailed account/statement from the client
- Liaising with any witnesses and obtaining a detailed account/statement from them in support of our clients’ defence
- Instructing the necessary experts where applicable to secure an expert report with a view to it strengthening our client’s case
- Gathering appropriate and relevant supporting evidence to strengthen the case including witness statements where appropriate and character references
- Where appropriate, securing medical evidence and / or reports
- Liaising with the Expert Witnesses to support the defence case and where appropriate, arrange for any assessments between our clients and the Expert Witness
- Providing our clients with copies of all prosecution evidence and expert reports and obtaining their comments so that a forceful defence can be put forward and they are fully prepared
- Investigating a variety of elements which make up the alleged offending to strengthen the defence case
- Preparing witnesses for trial
- Liaising with Police/ CPS/ Court
- Drafting representations of discontinuance to the CPS in an attempt to persuade them to withdraw proceedings before it escalates to trial
- Meetings with solicitors that will be undertaking the case preparation
- Preparing and advising clients on the court hearings, court procedure and the trial itself
- Working alongside with the specialist barristers and sending across to them a very extensive briefings and detailed instructions for court hearing and trial
- Preparing for all possible avenues available to a client to ensure all eventualities are prepared for and explored should this become necessary
- Where clients are found not guilty, making submissions for a defence cost order for the reimbursement of their legal fees
All our clients are given direct contact details for the solicitors working on their case with all enquiries being promptly responded to.
Please note the fees quoted above are legal fees and therefore exclude disbursements for expert reports and medical records. Further the fees are purely for indicative purposes subject to a formal consultation and assessment of your case.