Can I hire a barrister directly? Can I represent myself?

Question

I have a court case for ancillary relief coming up at the end January. The case particulars are very established now and nothing left in the way of negotiations - just submission of papers and oral arguments. My barrister is excellent and has done a very good job to date.

In the meantime, my solicitors have done a poor job and have been increasing their billings dramatically. Now they have put forward an estimate of skyrocketing costs to conclude the case.

We see it should be a decrease of costs as we have nothing left to negotiate and it is simply up to oral arguments.

Can we dismiss our solicitors and still maintain the barrister by direct representation? Could I represent myself and what would be my odds for success? We have 5 weeks before the court hearing - what options might be available to us in this situation?

Answer 1

Hi Aoilondon,

To answer your first question, you barrister is instructed by your solicitor. As this has already happened you may be able to contact chambers to ask your barrister to continue their work. It is then up to the barrister. If the solicitors are giving the barrister a lot of work he/she will be reluctant to damage the working relationship they have with the solicitor.

Second question, can you dismiss council and represent yourself?

Yes you can, but you will run into problems if you have had no formal legal training, as well as arguing the points of fact, you will also have to put up a legal argument supported by established case law. Not only do you need to know where to look for this but you will need to know how and when to use it when forming an argument or point of law.

Going to the library and reading a few law books does not teach you how to do this. There are different types of things quoted in cases by judges, some of which are simple observations mentioned 'obiter', and others that are the formal points of the judgement. You need to be able to read a case and fully understand the issue and HOW the judgement was arrived at. Which things that were said or done apply to support your arguments. Get it wrong and that could be the end of your case.

Ask your solicitors for a full statement of costs so far. Analyze it carefully and if there is anything you don't agree with question it. They must provide this if requested by the client.

if their conduct does not meet with your expectations you can contact the law society to complain.

Don't forget, if you win then costs will probably also be awarded to you.

Hope this helps

Good luck

Answer 2

You can dismiss your solicitors, but if you do so then you are at the same time dismissing your barrister, as a barrister cannot accept direct instructions from a client.

It is possible to represent yourself, but unless you are very well up in this area of the law, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. You will run into several problems, not least the fact that it would be unethical for the lawyer representing your ex spouse to approach you to negotiate an out of court settlement. That means that everything will have to be argued before the judge and while your opponent will be citing case law and legal authorities, you will simply have to rely on your wits and perhaps your natural eloquence (if that is the case). This is not at all easy when you come face to face with an ex-spouse, as there will be a great deal of emotion in the air.

And while you are baulking at paying your own solicitor's fees -- what if you lose and are ordered to pay the costs of your ex spouse? That's where having a barrister will help. How can you argue costs when you are unrepresented?

The increased costs may represent the brief fees of your barrister -- the one who has done such a good job and whom you would have been happy to retain, were it possible.

Answer 3

Hire A Barrister

Answer 4

I'm not a total expert, so I suggest that you punt your question across to the website I've quoted below.

In principle, people can now approach barristers directly - in the olden days you had no choice other than to use a solicitor - but whether this particular barrister would agree to carry on without a solicitor having got so far into the case is open to question. However there's nothing stopping you asking.

As far as the solicitor's escalating costs are concerned ... I never met a solicitor selling The Big Issue. And they are not necessarily good at recording what they do for you, let alone how well they do it. However, if I were you I would ask them for a detailed breakdown of the escalating costs that they are presenting you with; I would do this in writing because you may need it for later. Why? Because it's possible to ask for a lawyer's bill to be 'taxed,' as the term goes - what this means is that it will go in front of an independent arbitrator who will determine whether it is fair. (Although they do rather stick together).

But the overall point I want to put to you is that you are the client and you are entitled to a given standard of service and you don't have to behave with the kind of deference that one sees accorded to hospital consultants in 1950s movies. You *are* entitled to insist on being given information, to ask that action is taken timeously (a very legalese word, that) and you're not at the mercy of the crumbs from their table.

(Nicholas Monsarrat, the author, wrote in his autobiography that he abandoned his career as a putative solicitor when he found himself writing an invoice containing: 'Item: To ringing you up on the telephone and learning that you were out, 7/6d.'

Do try legal-zone. They set out to be on your side.

Answer 5

I don't really see the correlation since your solicitors brief your barrister, he'd done a good job out of their poor job, that doesn't make sense! Remember you can always challenge your bill, its called taxation you must do it within a month of the final bill.

Ancillary relief is just that, there are no more issues to settle apart from issues which are ancillary, you will be aware of what those issues are, no doubt the court will be aware, while out of all honesty you may be capable to doing it yourself, why after doing things which afford you contractual/tortious protection would you want to risk your own negligence, (ie something goes wrong you have no action to take against yourself). Get to conclusion, if you feel your bill is too high you can under the solicitors remuneration order get the bill checked.

Answer 6

Are the estimate in costs for the final court hearing?, if so then that is your Barristers fee. Having gone through this myself recently the final hearing alone cost in excess of £5k.

If I did it again I'd probably represent myself.

You won't necessarily be awarded costs if you win, only if the other party accept the same or less than you have already offered and then only if they can afford to meet those costs.

Answer 7

If you win you will be awarded your costs in any case - so why sack them now? Let your brief do the work he has been trained to do - representing you to the best of his ability. I'd let the professionals do the work for you.

Answer 8

See waht is the best cos you are the best person who could estimate it legelly