Legal Consultation & Advisory

Not every legal question needs a full instruction. Sometimes what you need is a straight answer from someone who knows the jurisdiction, in writing, before you decide whether to go further. That is what this service is.

Written legal opinions

A defined question, researched and answered in writing, for a fixed fee agreed in advance. Clients use these to establish where they stand before committing to a transaction, to check advice they have been given by someone with an interest in the outcome, or to give a board or a family the basis for a decision. You get a document you can keep, show to others, and rely on — which is more than a phone call gives you.

Transaction and contract review

You have been sent a contract and asked to sign it. We read it, tell you what it actually obliges each side to do, identify the clauses that will cause difficulty, and set out what we would try to change and why. This is deliberately narrower than acting on the transaction: it is a review, not conduct of the matter, and it is priced accordingly.

Due diligence reports

Searches and investigation on a specific asset or counterparty, reported without the transaction attached. Most often this is a property — the Land Registry position, title category, encumbrances and permissions — for a buyer who wants to know what they are looking at before they enter negotiations. It also applies to companies you are considering doing business with.

Second opinions

If you are already represented and are uneasy about the advice you are receiving, we will review the file and tell you whether we agree. We do this without any expectation of taking the matter over, and we say so plainly when the existing advice is sound — which it frequently is.

Retainer advisory

For businesses that need legal input regularly but not continuously, an agreed monthly retainer covers ongoing questions, contract review and general advice, with substantial pieces of work quoted separately. It suits companies operating here whose head office is elsewhere.

What a consultation costs

Fixed, quoted before we start, and based on the scope of the question rather than an open-ended hourly commitment. If the answer turns out to require substantially more work than the question suggested, we come back to you with a revised scope before doing it, not afterwards. If your question is one we can answer in a sentence, we will answer it in a sentence and not charge you for it.