Frequently Asked Questions

How much do you charge?

Fixed prices are available on request for many standard legal services and where appropriate to the particular transaction.

These include:

• Residential conveyancing – please contact Jane Riley
• Wills – please contact Peter Awad
• Commercial leases – please contact Kimat Singh
• Commercial transactions – please contact Kimat Singh
• Litigation matters – please contact Kate Barnes
• Family matters – please contact Clare Thomas and Elaine Webb
• Tenancy repossession – please contact Kate Barnes

Please note fixed pricing is not always possible. For instance in a court case at the start we cannot give estimates for going to trial until we have read all the documents and interviewed all the witnesses, or in winding up an estate we do not know at the start how many and how complex the assets are. Here we will give you ranges i.e. our costs will be between ‘x’ and ‘y’ with a view to giving more detail later.

We will also offer where possible, estimates for stages in work e.g. in a court case for reading all your papers or for preparing a defence document: from experience we find clients find this particularly useful as they may not want to instruct us to go all the way to trial but rather reach a settlement when we can.

Which areas of law don’t you cover?

We cover most everyday substantive areas of law which individuals and businesses are likely to require.

There are some exceptions, for instance, in that we no longer act on criminal cases. On the rare occasions we cannot help, we will tell you from the start and assist you where we can in referring you to someone who can.

Do you do legal aid work?

Yes if the matter relates to children where social services are involved. Please contact Laura Rowland at [email protected]. Otherwise, since April 2013, legal aid for divorce is now only available in very limited circumstances.

Will I have a specific lawyer assigned to me?  How will I know their status and experience?

You can check out the profile of all our lawyers on our About Us page.  You will receive a client care letter telling you who is assigned to you at the commencement of your matter.  In the vast majority of cases you will be seeing a solicitor and collectively, our experience in terms of breadth and depth within the firm is, we believe, second to none.

What if I am not happy with the service I receive?

Whilst we believe we provide a good service at all times, we appreciate, occasions may arise when expectations are not fully met.

We have a complaints procedure which will be provided to you within our client care letter. We will also provide you with a copy of our terms and conditions at the inception of a client matter.

We are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and carry insurance for claims up to £10 million.

Will my personal details be safe?

Kerseys operate a strict confidential policy on all personal data held in respect of clients.  Kerseys is registered with the Information Commissioner and complies with the Data Protection Act.

What if there is a fire at Kerseys, will my deeds and papers be safe?

Kerseys has a policy to place all important deeds and documents in a strong-room.   In addition to this, documentation may be scanned into our computer system which is backed up regularly.

What if your computer system crashes or is infected by a computer virus?

Kerseys regularly backs up data and keeps data disks off site, so in the rare event of the computer system crashing, we would expect minimal disruption.  We also keep hard copy files.