Services for Individuals

Rob has been providing advice at interviews under caution since 1994.  He has dealt with a number of major investigations and cases of the utmost seriousness.

Representation can be provided at short notice for individuals who find themselves under investigation by the Police, Trading Standards, Health and Safety executive, British Transport Police, Local Authority or County Council investigations.

Whilst not all cases can be won at the investigation stage, many can easily be lost.  When under investigation, it is vital to receive consistent, expert advice on your rights, options and the likely consequences of your decisions.

If you have been asked to participate in an investigation or, even worse, if someone close to you is under arrest, please ring now on 07767 471063 for instant advice.

Representation at Interview under caution starts from £450 during business hours and £600 during antisocial hours for fixed fee representation at venues around the North West.

Please note, this service is available at no cost from the duty Solicitor or Solicitors firms who hold a criminal contract with the Legal Aid Agency.

By instructing Rob, you guarantee receiving the highest quality personal representation from a Solicitor with over 25 years’ experience.  For interviews which are pre-arranged, our fee includes a conference, either by telephone or face to face so that all your options can be fully explored and detailed, personally tailored advice offered.

Rob enjoys a renowned reputation as a Magistrates’ Court advocate with a thorough grasp of the law and an eye for detail. He has provided representation at thousands of Magistrates Court hearings since 1996.

Appearing at Court can be a stressful and difficult process. If you know that you are due to appear at Court then ring us now on 07767 471063 to secure our availability.

We can provide the highest quality of advocacy services at Court and will give you straightforward advice in a non-judgmental way. We understand that a conviction for even a minor offence may lead to devastating consequences for you in terms of work and your future career. For Courts in the North West, our fixed fee is £500 per Court hearing, to include a thorough consideration of the papers in your case and a pre-Court conference in person or by telephone.

Defence representation can also be provided in the Magistrates’ Court to individuals facing allegations of breach of planning regulations, breach of license requirements and prosecutions by the Health and Safety executive. Again, our fee is £500 per Court hearing to include pre-hearing preparation and a conference with you.

With over 25 years’ experience of practice in Lancashire, we have strong connections throughout the North West and beyond and offer access to specialist Barristers where required.

Please note, these services may be available at no cost to yourself from a Solicitors’ firm with a criminal contract with the Legal Aid Agency. They may also be available on the day from the Court duty solicitor at no charge.

We offer a high-quality bespoke service and provide personally tailored advice. You will be represented by a senior, highly experienced, well regarded and fully qualified Court advocate. We do not accept instructions from other clients on the day that you are in Court. If you are kept waiting at Court, it will not be because you are waiting for us. We will attend Court promptly and treat you with the utmost courtesy and respect. We will ensure that all available case papers in your case are fully assessed and your representation will not be rushed.

With an ever-increasing volume of automatic enforcement measures and Police road safety partnerships, those who rely on their driving licences need to exercise ever more caution on the road.  We have significant experience of dealing with road traffic cases, to include cases of the utmost seriousness.

Should you find yourself in a position where your driving licence is at risk then we offer sympathetic and non-judgmental advice with the aim of keeping you on the road.  Should that not be feasible, we will tell you straight from the outset.

Please carry out some internet research and contact specialist providers for a fee quotation before contacting us.  Ask yourself if you need to fund someone else’s expensive City Centre offices or whether claims to “win” 99.99% of cases can really be true.  Do you really want to risk finding out after investing thousands of pounds that the lawyer you thought you were instructing is not available on the day of your trial and that promises of a technical defence are not shared by your new trial advocate?  Will your lawyer charge yet another £1500 plus VAT for the sentence hearing you had been assured would never happen?  Whilst there are some excellent specialists in the North West, be aware that the link between price and quality is not necessarily direct.

By operating from a central location with low overheads, we are able to provide you with expert quality advice but without big City costs.  Our fee structure for Magistrates Court work is simple.  We charge £500 per Court hearing, to include a pre-Court conference by telephone or in person.

Motoring law guides

Should you receive a Single Justice Procedure Notice and wish to plead guilty, we can deal with this for you, take your instructions, advise you on your proposed plea and draft a letter in mitigation for a fixed fee of £250.  This will avoid the necessity of you physically attending Court in the majority of cases.

For serious cases that proceed to the Crown Court, our well-established links to Barristers’ Chambers ensure that a seamless and high-quality service can be provided.  Costs for Crown Court cases will vary depending on plea and complexity but typically range from £1500 to £10000.

We are able to provide advice and representation in cases that proceed before the County Courts.

In particular, we can provide access to all specialist Barristers, not just those offering a Direct Access service.

We can provide expert advice for all matters before the County Courts and can respond quickly if you have received notification of an early Court hearing date or even if you are unsure how to deal with complicated paperwork received from the other party.

We can assist with breach of contract claims, whether you are alleged to be party to an alleged breach or wish to pursue a party which has failed to comply with your terms.

With our low overheads, it may well still be cost effective for your firm to seek expert representation without incurring big City charging rates from a larger firm.  We also have contact with a network of specialist litigators and can help you to place your case with the right expert.  

We only accept instructions where we believe that we can add value and provide a cost benefit to you and will give straightforward advice on the merits of your case.

Rob’s first appearance as an advocate was at Preston County Court in 1994 and is now in his fourth decade of providing specialist advice and representation in a straightforward manner.

Appearing at the Crown Court is a hugely stressful experience for you and those close to you.  The environment can be hostile and intimidating with Barristers and Judges speaking in legal language that you don’t understand.  The stakes are high and the costs and sentence implications of a conviction can be life changing both for you and those close to you.

Rob has provided representation to clients appearing at the Crown Court since 1994.  You can have confidence of the highest quality advice and guidance throughout your case.   With over 25 years’ experience of practice in Lancashire, we have strong connections throughout the North West and beyond and offer access to specialist Barristers for Crown Court and Higher Courts work.

Rob has conducted or supervised hundreds of serious Crown Court cases and if you face proceedings before the Crown Court then he can act for you and instruct the very best Counsel available from Barristers’ Chambers.  As Crown Court cases vary so widely, we can provide a personally tailored quotation for you; costs typically vary from £1000 for an early guilty plea or sentence hearing to £10000 for a short trial.

Should you be facing your first Crown Court hearing, ring us now on 07767 471063 as Courts now expect a degree of preparation to have been carried out before the first hearing.

Please be aware that subject to your financial position, this service may be available at no cost to yourself from a Solicitors firm with a criminal legal aid contract.  We do not offer any legal aid services.  What we do offer is the highest quality representation, with all work carried out by a highly experienced and fully qualified solicitor.  No work will be carried out on your case by junior or unqualified staff.

Appearing before the Traffic Commissioner can be a daunting experience.

Costs with some representatives can be exorbitant.  Our low overheads mean that you can benefit from senior partner level advocacy at significantly reduced rates.

We provide a bespoke, personally tailored advice service and can provide sympathetic representation at driver conduct hearings.

Whether you are a bus, coach, truck or other LGV driver, we can guide you through the regulatory maze and do our utmost to protect your livelihoods.

For driver conduct hearings, our fee is £500 per hearing to include representation at that hearing and a pre-hearing conference.  

Should you wish to appeal a Traffic Commissioner’s decision in relation to your vocational licence then expert advice is available and we can guide you through the Magistrates’ Court process and provide representation.  For cases in the North West, our fixed fee is £1000 as two hearings will be required at Court.

Good planning is the key to making things easier for those close to you when they have to deal with the aftermath of losing you.

We are able to assist you in the preparation of simple wills so that your affairs can be dealt with the way you wish them to be dealt with and in a way which helps to avoid challenges to your wishes.

Our Will questionnaire is available and forms a useful basis for us to be able to prepare a Will for you.

We can help you with:

• Writing and updating a will.
• Helping your family to prevent paying unnecessary inheritance tax at the time of your death.
• Reducing the risk of claims from people you do not want to benefit from your estate.
• Looking after children under 18 by way of Wills and trusts.
• Helping children, spouses, ex-spouses and other dependents on death by bringing or defending family provision claims.
• Protecting elderly relatives and other vulnerable family members through the Court of Protection.
• Putting a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place to appoint someone to manage your financial affairs should you ever lack the mental capacity to do so.
• Nominating guardians and make financial provision for children under 16.
• Contesting a will where reasonable provision has not been made.

Why take chances from an unregulated company when you can receive tailored personal advice from a Solicitor with over 25 years’ experience?

Please note, we do not act as professional executors and we do not deal with Probate matters. Should your estate be of a high value, require complex trusts or should you wish to appoint a fee charging professional to deal with Probate matters on your behalf then we may be able to help find you the best local specialist in this regard but we will not be able to accept instructions from you.

Our fees

SINGLE BASIC WILL £200

BASIC WILL FOR COUPLES £300

There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney.

They are both mechanisms to let other people manage your affairs when you are unable to do so yourself, perhaps because you became physically frail.

There is a five stage process.

What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?

A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone or maybe more than one person to make decisions on your behalf. They are called your attorney.

There are two different types of Lasting Powers of Attorney:

• A Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Powers of Attorney – this lets your attorneys make decisions on your behalf in relation to your property and financial matters.
• A Health and Care Lasting Powers of Attorney – this lets your attorney make decisions about social care issues and medical treatment. This includes life sustaining treatment. This type of power of attorney can only be used when you no longer have capacity to make those decisions for yourself.

You may choose a different person or different people to be appointed on each document – the people you choose to look after money matters do not have to be the same people to make health decisions for you.

What are the stages for making a Lasting Power of Attorney?

Stage one

The first thing that you need to do is work out whether you wish to create one or two Lasting Power of Attorneys. You then need to choose who your attorneys are going to be. You should choose somebody appropriate that you trust, most likely a family member or friend. If you choose more than one person, you need to choose whether they will have the power to act individually on all matters or jointly. We can give you advice about this.

Stage two

The next thing you need to do is to think about whether or not you wish to restrict the powers that are granted to your attorneys. This may be by specifying that they can only be used once you have lost capacity or by restricting the assets that your attorneys can deal with.

Stage three

You can choose which people should be told before your attorneys register your Lasting Power of Attorney. For example, you may wish to appoint your child as the attorney but not let them register it without your brother or sister being told first. This can add a layer of protection.

Stage four

You will need a ‘certificate provider’ who will sign your Lasting Power of Attorney and state that they are satisfied that they believe you understand the document and that you are not under any under pressure to make a Lasting Power of Attorney. We can act as certificate provider. Alternatively, if your health is in question it may be prudent to ask your doctor to certificate the form.

Stage 5

A Lasting Power of Attorney cannot be used until it has been registered at the Office of the Public Guardian. We usually recommend applying to register the document immediately, even if you do not intend your attorneys to use it straight away. We can deal with the registration for you. The Office of the Public Guardian charges a fee, currently £82 unless you are entitled to a reduced fee (we can advise you about this).

We can store your Lasting Power of Attorney free of charge.

Whilst you still have capacity, you can revoke your Lasting Power of Attorney at any time.

Our fees

We find that most clients prefer a fixed fee arrangement so that costs can be predicted clearly.

Our fees for Lasting Powers of Attorney are set out below:

Lasting Power of Attorney (single) x 1 document
Property and Financial Affairs OR Health and Welfare £200

Lasting Power of Attorney (single) 2 documents
Property and Financial Affairs AND Health and Welfare £400

Lasting Power of Attorney (couple) 2 documents
Property and Financial Affairs OR Health and Welfare £600

Lasting Power of Attorney (couple) 4 documents

Property and Financial Affairs AND Health and Welfare £800

Please note, as above, in addition, the Office of the Public Guardian charges a registration fee, currently £82