Although some of our clients are celebrities; you do not need to be a celebrity to afford our fees. We also promise all our clients the following:
- every case is dealt with by a senior solicitor
- your point of contact will always be your own solicitor and we will not pass you off to trainees or assistants as soon as we take your money, like some other law firms do
- your personal solicitor will deal with your case from initial interview through to conclusion including attending all your court hearings
- you will always be dealt with in a professional manner, yet we will always be approachable, sympathetic and efficient
- you are assured of absolute privacy during and after your case, because we do not name our clients publicly
- we can attend any police station in London, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent, Sussex, East Sussex or West Sussex in less than 1 hour from initial phone call
- we carry out urgent work at no additional cost to you
- our initial consultation fee is £100 plus 20% VAT
We also offer Fixed Fee options based on the following factors:
- The type of case
Guilty Pleas start at £600 plus 20% VAT
Not Guilty Pleas start at £900 plus 20% VAT
Appeals start at £1,500 plus 20% VAT
Alcohol related cases range from between £900 to £3,000 plus 20% VAT for a not guilty matter
Dangerous Driving – The fees for defending a dangerous driving prosecution will depend entirely on the circumstances of the prosecution and whether the case will be heard in the Magistrates’ or Crown Court. Fees start from £1,000 plus 20% VAT for relatively straight forward matters
- The facts of your case and the evidence gathering process
If there are many witnesses to support your defence, whilst this may strengthen your case it is also likely to increase the level of the fees you will be asked to pay as taking 10 statements will involve more time on our part than if we only take 1 or 2 statements.
Many cases we deal with involve medical defences. If we have to instruct a medical expert, we will have to pay them for their report and attendance at court although attendance charges can usually be claimed from the court by the expert.
- Location of the case
Our main office is in London although we offer a nationwide service. Our fees are structured to take into account your location and the location of the court as we will charge for our travel time in attending court. We are mindful of keeping your costs to a minimum and will do what we can to keep within the fee bracket we suggest at the outset.
With the exception of guilty plea cases, we are unable to offer fixed fees to our clients. This is because we can often anticipate the direction of a case at the outset but it can go in a completely different direction and frequently does. The most common reason for our requiring additional fees from a client is where a case is adjourned on a trial date. This can be due to lack of court time or due to a request for an adjournment from the prosecution. We know that our clients want certainty about our charges and we will do our best to provide this to you at the start of your matter and at regular intervals throughout the process.
An Example of a Fixed Fee Guilty Plea case:
Motoring offences vary in severity and seriousness. At it’s most serious, causing death by reckless driving, can carry a lifelong prison sentence. It is therefore impossible to explain every possible situation here.
However; an (unfortunately) very common situation involves the offence of driving whilst under the influence of alcohol – better known as Drink Driving. For a client offering a guilty plea – we offer a fixed fee for representation of between £800 plus VAT and £1500 plus VAT depending on court location. The current rate of VAT is 20%.
Our Fixed Fee includes:
- Up to 2 hours of attendance/preparation:
- considering evidence
- taking your instructions
- providing advice on likely sentence
- Attendance and representation at a single hearing at a Magistrates Court
The fee does not include:
- instruction of any expert witnesses
- taking statements from any witnesses
- advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing
- advice or assistance in relation to any appeal
- A barrister – should you choose to be represented by one
Key Stages
The key stages of your matter are based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and have a date for your hearing.
A fixed fee (if offered) will include the following key stage work:
- A meeting with your solicitor to provide instructions on what happened.
- Our advice after consideration of the initial disclosure and any other evidence
- Obtaining details of mitigating factors and advising on the impact of these on sentencing
- An explanation of the court procedure so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing, and the sentencing options available to the court
- Our advice on the likely sentence you will receive
- further preparation work, obtaining further instructions from you & if necessary answering any follow up question
- It is unlikely that we can provide an accurate timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this depends on the court listing for that day. However most hearings are listed to start at 10 am, even though they may not actually get called into court until hours later
- We will attend court on the day and meet with you before going before the court. The fixed fee incorporates a total of 3 hours [e.g. half a day] spent at the court. Any additional time or delay is charged separately.
- Advice on the outcome. If advice on an appeal is required, , this will carry an additional cost, based on the hourly fee rate for your allocated solicitor.
Timescale
We cannot provide an accurate time scale of when your case will be heard as this depends on the Court listing process. Most cases involving a guilty plea will conclude between 4 and 10 weeks from when you received the summons or were charged. The process will take longer if any adjournment is necessary.
Our Hourly Rate
For those cases which do not qualify for a fixed fee, we may be able to charge a reduced hourly rate for Grade A Solicitor of £250 plus VAT at 20% depending on the nature of the offence, the court where it is to be heard and the issues involved. In addition we charge separately for phone calls (usually £10) and letters or emails (£10-£20). Added to these will be VAT at 20% and also any disbursements such as the costs of instructing a specialist barrister.
Full costs information and details will always be provided to every client at the start of their matter and we will strive to provide you with a fee estimate for your work at the start too.
Fee Earners & Experience
Any representation for motoring offences will be carried out by a fully qualified solicitor. Each solicitor charges for their time depending on their individual status within the firm and their experience. The following is an example of some of the hourly rates charged for different levels of solicitors. All fees charged, whether fixed fee or hourly rate, will have VAT at 20% added to the final figure plus any disbursements such as travel fare, parking fees or court costs.
| Name | Hourly rate |
| Principal Partner | £350 |
| Senior Solicitors | £300 |
| Senior Consultants | £250 |
| Solicitors | £250 |
| Consultants | £250 – £275 |
| Trainee Solicitors | £200 |
| Paralegals | £150 – £200 |
| Media Researchers | £150 |
| Translators | £65 – £85 |
Our Team
Our team has over decades of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to Motoring Offences. Road Traffic law is surprisingly complex and requires exceptional attention to detail. These types of cases very often succeed (or fail) on technicalities only and you need to be sure that your defence team are the best.
We have three main members of the team who may work on your matter. Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Cyrus Mansouri, Principal of the firm and Road Traffic Law & Motoring Offences.
Cyrus Mansouri
Cyrus started his career in Motoring Offence Defence since 1996 as a trainee. He started off representing his own clients in Magistrates Courts and gradually built up an extensive knowledge and knowledge bank in this specialised area of the law. He is now principal of this firm and has extensive experience of all aspects of Motoring Law from day to day ‘drink driving’ charges through to complicated and distressing ‘causing death by reckless driving’ cases. Cyrus is highly regarded by his clients for being extremely approachable and understanding with his trademark calm demeanor concealing his unforgiving attention to detail. He frequently appears in all courts as an advocate for his clients and his extensive experience of this area of law means that he will always be able to tell clients precisely what they can expect and what their realistic chances of success are.
Melorion Hubert Van Arkadie
Hubert qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and quickly developed himself as an outstanding high street solicitor, setting up his own firm specialising in probate, immigration law, litigation and family law among other areas of work. Hubert managed a large criminal defence team in his own firm and brought his wealth of experience and knowledge with him when he joined us as a consultant. He joined Mansouri & Son in 2010 as a consultant, preferring to focus his attention on his clients, rather than running a large high street firm.
Abraham Mashood
Abraham started off at Mansouri & Son working on reception and has gradually worked his way up to being admitted as a solicitor in 2023. Despite his recent admission, Abraham has over 6 years of hands-on experience in all aspects of Motoring Offences and has been involved in complex cases during this short period. Abraham has immense experience of advising on, preparing and submitting all types of defence from the most basic types of situation through to serious cases where the defendant faces a life long custodial sentence if convicted. He has a creative mind and an excellent eye for detail.
Defendant’s Costs Order
The primary objective for most clients is to achieve an acquittal or damage limitation. However, if acquitted of an offence, you are likely to be entitled to an order from the court that your costs be assessed and paid from the Court’s central funds.
Guilty Plea/Conviction
If you plead or are found guilty, you will be responsible for payment of your own legal fees which are not refundable along with prosecution costs (Usually less than £500) and possibly also fined in addition to receiving other penalties.
Acquittal
If you are found not guilty after a trial or if the prosecution discontinue their case against you, you will usually be entitled to an order from the court that your costs be ‘taxed’ and paid from the Court Central Funds.
This does not automatically entitle you to a full refund of fees. However, this should result in most, if not all of the costs paid by or due from you being returned to you. This is subject to the amount allowed by the Court being the amount claimed by us. There is little uniformity across the courts and they each have differing views to the reasonableness of our bills when submitted. The attitude of the court to the bills submitted is also something which changes over time. If your bill is not paid in full by the Court, we would prepare representations to argue for a full recovery of costs. However, if such representations do not succeed, it would be open to you to seek a judicial review of the assessment of costs.
Legal Aid
As a general rule Legal Aid is no longer available for motoring offences. It may sometimes be available in cases where the defendant is likely to lose their liberty, livelihood or reputation, where the witness evidence meets certain specific criteria, where the defendant will not be able to understand the proceedings or where there is a substantial question of law involved.
We at Mansouri & Son Solicitors do not provide Legal Aid
No Win No Fee
It is unlawful for any criminal case to be funded on this basis. We therefore can not offer this type of arrangement. We can, however, offer payment plans to suit you and we are able to accept payments by credit or debit card or by cheque.
It is always a condition of our representation that payment of outstanding invoices rendered is made before a final hearing date.
If you or someone you know has been arrested we can act immediately and can be contacted 24 hours a day in an emergency on 07966 259252
To book an appointment please call 020 8401 7352 or email us at info@solicitorsfirm.com
© Mansouri & Son Solicitors 2024
