Transparency Information

About our transparency information

In 2018 the Bar Standards Board (BSB) commenced a consultation process in response to the Competition and Market Authority regarding Transparency relating to how barristers and Chambers calculate their fees. From January 2020 it is mandatory that all Chambers provide this information clearly on their website.KBG Chambers are regulated by the Bar Standards Board. More information , and contact details, can be  found on this link - https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/

‍Providing Fee Quotes
‍Professional, direct access client and licensed access clients can contact KBG Chambers to obtain a quotation for legal services.

For professional clients please call 0845 308 1551 and ask to speak to the relevant clerk. If you wish to obtain a quote by email, please email one of the following –
Family Clerks – familyclerks@kbgchambers.co.uk
Criminal Clerks – clerks@kbgchambers.co.uk
Civil Clerks – civilclerks@kbgchambers.co.uk

‍Direct Access and Licensed access clients, please complete the form on our public access page by following this link http://kbgchambers.co.uk/public_access_form . Once the form has been completed you can expect to receive a quote within 48 hours. If your enquiry is urgent please specify this on the form.
All quotes will be provided within 14 days of the enquiry and there will be no charge for providing a quote.
While quotes will be binding, if the scope of the legal services change, then the quotation will not be binding. In a clerk providing a quote, this does not amount to a member of KBG Chambers accepting instructions. This will be confirmed on receipt of papers.

‍Area of Practice
‍KBG Chambers receive, and accept, instructions on a variety of areas of law within Criminal, Civil and Family Law. A full list of our practice areas can be found on http://www.kbgchambers.co.uk/practice-areas.Chambers main areas of practice are Criminal Law, Personal Injury, Matrimonial Family, Private Law Family, Care Proceedings in Family Law, Landlord & Tennant and Probate Succession and Trusts.

‍Pricing
‍Fee are quoted for legal services  and take in to account several determining factors. The clerks at KBG Chambers have extensive knowledge, in their areas of law, and will be able to provide an accurate quote. This can either be on hourly rates or on a fixed fee basis. Which pricing model we used will depend on several variable determining factors.

The determining factors that are considered include –
- Level of instructed barrister’s seniority
- Any novel or unusual areas of law involved
- Value of the case & Complexities
- How much preparation is involved, including hours spent and volume of pages
- What work is involved – i.e Advising in conference, attendance at a hearing or written advice
- Geographical Factors - location of the Listing of Hearing or Advising in person

‍Level of barrister’s seniority
‍As a general rule the more senior the barrister the more experience they have which will usually attract a higher hourly/daily rate. Across the various specialties Chambers has to offer, these can widely differ so our preference is to quote once we know more about the specific circumstances of a case and what is required.
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‍Novel or unusual are of law involved
‍At KBG Chambers we have barristers who have specialist knowledge in all areas of law. Members have in-depth knowledge of the local area which assists them in providing high-quality advice. It is rare, but sometimes there are cases whereby a novel point of law arises. This can result in an increase to the amount of preparation required and any legal research the barrister may have to undertake thus increases the fee quotation.

We understand that some clients may want advice, and necessarily fight, a case on a point of principle and that although the monetary value of the claim is low, we understand that this maybe of importance to the client and KBG Chambers, and it’s members, will do all we can to assist

.KBG Chambers have all the latest legal texts to advice on the areas of law that are listed in the under are practice groups. Members have access to these via our online subscriptions.

‍Geographical Factors
‍KBG Chambers are based in Plymouth, Truro & Exeter and we predominantly cover all courts in the South West. We do however have counsel who travel to all courts in the UK in all areas of law. In some instances, we may have to quote travel expenses. We can include these in the fee or these can be quoted separately.

‍Value & Complexities of a case
‍When providing a quote, the clerk will take in to consideration the value and complexities of the case. The value can be calculated in a variety of different methods. Some examples include, value of a claim is pleaded at; the value of land; value of estates, wills, pensions and property etc etcComplexities can arise in all areas of law. These could include any contacts or agreements that are in place, deeds of land, medical expert reports, detailed trusts etc etc. On receipt of papers, a clerk will be able to provide a quote factoring these in.

‍Amount of preparation
‍Depending on the amount of time a barrister prepares for providing the requested advice does affect the fee that is quoted. Members of KBG Chambers need to consider each document that is provided and are duty bound to do so by the professional body that regulates them. The clerks can provide an estimate on costs, and time spent on a case will often be an important piece of information to accurately provide a quote for the services our barristers can provide.

‍What work is involved
‍Depending on if the client wants written advice, advice in conference or attendance at court will obviously affect the fee charged. The length of time advising in conference is a factor in any fee quote. The longer, in length of time, the conference takes the higher the fee will be. This applies to representation at court. The longer a barrister is at court will affect the fee quoted.

‍Pricing Models
‍Common Price models included brief fees and refreshers; fixed fees and hourly rates and these are applied to both public access and professional clients.Barristers at KBG Chambers accept instructions under a conditional fee agreement (“no win, no fee” agreements) in certain circumstances and certain areas of law. We do not accept instructions on conditional fee basis for public access cases.

‍Instructions we can accept
‍The vast majority of barristers can only be instructed through a solicitor. If you have a case and do not have a solicitor we can often make a few recommendations based on the particular circumstances of your case.

We have some barristers who act on a ‘public access’ basis. This means a member of the public can instruct them directly without a solicitor being involved. More information on this is provided below.

Details of our barristers who accept instructions directly from the public can be contained on the following link – http://www.kbgchambers.co.uk/public-access-Direct-acces-Iwantabarrister  This page details which areas of law we cover within this.

There might be occasions when the public access accredited barrister will recommend your case will benefit from the assistance of a solicitor particularly if the case is likely to involve significant amounts of litigation and lodging of Court documents. Barrister’s diaries are often busy and this can affect their ability to be able to respond immediately to communications with other parties involved in the legal proceedings and the assistance of a solicitor is both helpful and sensible.

‍Timescales
‍Once we are informed about your legal requirements and circumstances we can advise in relation to timescale. This can be dependent upon the particular circumstances of your case. For instance, if you have been provided with a Court date you might need to undertake certain work to be ready for that date or provide the Court with a response to their request. It is important to inform Chambers of such matters to confirm they can undertake the work within the required timeframe.

If we are being asked to provide an advice on a case we would usually let you know when you could expect the work to be completed to confirm if the timescale is acceptable to the Client once you have provided the necessary documentation to us to assist.

The clerks will usually be able to factor in such issues as current workloads and diary commitments together with any holiday commitments the barrister may have booked. There might be times when something unexpected happens e.g. illness, which could cause a delay in the timescale of providing the Client with a piece of work. In such circumstances the clerk would contact you to advise you of the position in order to assess whether the case would benefit from being passed to someone of similar experience or to explain that the work required will be slightly delayed due to unforeseen circumstances to keep the Client informed of progress.

For written advice, KBG Chambers normally operate on a 14 day time scale.

‍Members registered for VAT
‍Once a clerk has received all the relevant information, and has taken in to account the above factors, they will then provide a quote for the work/advice required. The vast majority of members are VAT registered and so VAT will be applied to any fee quotes provided. You will be given the fee quote NET of VAT and then including VAT. Some members of KBG are NOT VAT registered but this will be highlighted in these circumstances.

‍Complaints Procedure & Barrister Register
‍KBG Chambers take complaints very seriously and we have a complaints procedure. A copy of this can be provided to you if you contact one of the clerks on the details above or can be found on our website on http://www.kbgchambers.co.uk/about-chambersandcomplaintsprocedureThe link below is for the decision data on the Legal Ombudsman’s website:https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/raising-standards/data-and-decisions/

‍The decision data on the Legal Ombudsman website shows providers who received an Ombudsman’s decision in the previous 12 months.

The link below is to the Barristers Register page on the Bar Standards Board’s website and shows which barristers have a practicing certificate and whether a barrister has any disciplinary findings.https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/regulatory-requirements/the-barristers'-register/

‍Copies of these Transparency Guidelines

‍If you require a copy of these guidelines, and any of the links suggested, please contact one of the clerks and a copy can be sent to you in the DX or by post.

All of the above information is annually checked and reviewed. Last review was conducted on the 31st January 2021.