Following key changes to the law, members of the public seeking legal advice or representation, within the family law, can now approach a barrister direct. Legal aid (public funding) is not available to members of the public like it used to be.
Instructing a barrister directly under the Public Access Scheme will usually be the most cost effective option because barristers are self-employed and have much lower overheads than solicitors. You can instruct a barrister to deal with certain aspects of your case that you cannot deal with yourself, whereas solicitors will generally need to deal with everything.
Usually barristers will agree a fixed fee in advance of any work undertaken. Therefore, allowing you to keep tight control over your budget.
The barrister’s role remains essentially the same as when they are instructed by a solicitor. Barristers can advise you, represent you and draft and send documents for you. There are some situations where you might have to consider instructing a solicitor to represent your interests.
The cases that are not suitable under the Public Access Scheme are generally those that require action of some sort on a daily basis. However, for the majority of cases the Public Access Scheme allows you to go direct to the expert barrister for advice, representation and preparation of documents.
Any court process involving your children is daunting, emotional and complicated. Unit Chambers pride themselves on making those difficult times a little easier. If Unit Chambers think that you might be entitled to legal aid or that your case requires the attention of a solicitor then we will tell you this. Unit Chambers does not deal with the administrative aspects of litigation. This means they do not take documents to court, they cannot issue applications and pay fees for court hearings or prepare bundles of documents etc.
However, the team will provide you with guidance and support on these matters to ensure understanding and efficiency. Fees are always clearly explained and agreed in advance.
There is an initial free online consultation as to whether your case is suitable for the direct instruction of our team. Unit Chambers are based in Liverpool and Manchester. However, our direct access barristers travel the country to attend all different court centres and use modern technology such as Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams to easily facilitate conferences and meetings.
Please complete the contact form. All responses should be sent to [email protected] and a response will be received within 48 hours.