Litigation is expensive and often the legal costs involved in taking your case could be far greater than what is actually awarded to you by the Court or what is finally charged by us.
We try wherever possible to ensure that the fee does not exceed an award made and that we achieve an award or settlement which is as significant as possible for you. That is not always possible.
At the early stages of a case, we have no idea how much documentation might be involved, what issues might arise, how many preliminary issues may be raised by each side etc. However, we do know this process well and we invariably know what we will come into contact with (within reason!).
There is a caveat here that what is set out below can only ever be a guide outlining our minimum fee, in that the total cost will be no less than what is set out below.
Your first consultation with our Principal Solicitor Seán Ormonde will take roughly 45 minutes. This is where you can discuss your concerns with Seán, he can outline your legal options and how we can help. He will advise you on what your case might cost and how long it will take.
During this meeting, Seán will be able to answer all your questions on not just your case, but also what you can expect from the process for a case like yours. He will give you his honest and unbiased professional opinion, so please feel free to come prepared with any questions you may have. After that meeting, we will send you our summary and detailed advice.
The cost of this service is €200 (VAT included) and if we feel you have a strong claim worth lodging in the Workplace Relations Commission (or elsewhere), this sum will be discounted from our initial retainer fee.
Our minimum professional fee for any case is €5,100 +VAT plus a contingency fee on success.
This is broken down as follows;
This is assuming that the level of work involved in your case is not unusual or abnormal and that the matter resolves at the first stage i.e. the WRC.
In some limited cases we can charge our fees but solely on a contingency basis save for an initial retainer of €750 plus VAT and plus a success-based contingency fixed fee of €12,440 plus VAT on the successful outcome of your case (whether that be by way of settlement or determination by the WRC/Labour Court).
Where we are acting on a contingency basis like this, we get to charge a premium on our usual hourly rate, partly for our expertise where the award is greater than anticipated but also because the fee we are ultimately entitled to needs to reflect the risk that we are taking and as such on success our hourly rate may be higher than another solicitor’s who may charge on a pay as you go basis. In those circumstances, the fee will increase. The point is that when the award increases there is a greater ability to pay the actual cost of the litigation at our contingency rate.
In a standard WRC case which proceeds to one day of the hearing, we estimate that there are approximately 25-30 hours of work involved. This is on the basis that the case resolves on the first day. Where any case does not conclude on the first day of the hearing, each additional day at hearing would be charged at €1,500 plus VAT plus outlay.
Given that our full fee is likely to largely outweigh a Claimant’s ability to pay, we do not charge this full fee unless our Client receives an award sufficient to cover it.
