Independent Legal Advice
If you are looking to take out a litigation loan, provide a guarantee or reach an agreed settlement with an employer the arrangements will normally include a requirement that you obtain independent legal advice.
We have extensive experience in examining documents and then providing the required advice in a clear and concise manner so that you can make an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed. We never treat it as a “rubber stamp” exercise and will take as long as is necessary to ensure that you properly understand the documents that you ask us to advise on.
Litigation loan agreements – Matrimonial and general litigation funding
We are familiar with the products offered by a number of lenders including Detach Lending, Level, Rhea Family Finance and Schneider Financial Solutions. We are also on several lenders panels as recognised suppliers of independent legal advice.
Fees
£275 no VAT to advise on all documents relating to either a litigation loan agreement or a living expenses loan agreement.
£325 no VAT if advice is required on both a litigation loan agreement and a living expenses loan agreement as part of the same instruction.
£200 no VAT to advise on an extension to a loan agreement or a separate living expenses agreement taken out at a later date to the original loan agreement provided that we were instructed to advise in respect of the original agreement.
The fees quoted cover our correspondence and calls with you and your solicitors, reviewing the lenders document pack, providing you with the required advice and reporting to the lender. We are not currently required to charge VAT on invoices delivered for our services.
Appointments
We offer both telephone appointments and face to face meetings so we can still help if you are not based in or cannot travel to central London. We will need an opportunity to read through and check the documents before providing the advice but can normally offer an appointment within 2 working days of receipt of instructions.
It normally takes between 40 minutes and an hour to go through and advise on the document pack. We recognise that not all clients are the same and will therefore spend as long as is necessary to ensure that you understand the arrangements that you are considering entering into. There will be no additional charge if we overrun our general time estimate.
If you have received the loan documents from the lender and are looking to obtain independent legal advice please contact Gordon Tennent by telephone 0207 2698630 or Email info@tennentssolicitors.co.uk. If writing to us it would help if you could put “ILA Advice Request” in the subject heading and provide the name of the loan company that you are using in the text of your message.
Settlement agreements
A settlement agreement is a contractual arrangement entered into between an employee and their employer that brings the employees employment to an end on agreed terms. They normally include a settlement package covering the employee’s basic statutory entitlements, any notice period or accrued but untaken holiday and a compensatory amount for loss of office. Although terms have often been agreed by the parties it is still essential that the employee obtains independent legal advice on the arrangements as a key feature of virtually all settlement agreements is that they will extinguish potential claims that the employee may have for acts or omissions made by their employer during the course of their employment.
We can review the terms for you and investigate whether or not you are best served by signing up to the proposed arrangements or by pursuing a claim against your employer.
Fees
Your settlement agreement should provide an amount that your employer will pay towards the costs of you obtaining independent legal advice on the terms of the agreement. We will need you to let us know what that amount is but we can normally agree to cap the cost of the document review and the advice appointment at the amount provided.
If you have received a settlement agreement from your employer and are looking to obtain independent legal advice please contact Gordon Tennent by telephone 0207 2698630 or Email info@tennentssolicitors.co.uk. If writing to us it would help if you could put “ILA Advice Request – Settlement Agreement” in the subject heading and provide the name of your employer in the text of your message. This will enable us to carry out a conflict of interests check to ensure that we are able to act on your behalf.
Guarantees and Charges
Independent legal advice is usually required in situations where an individual is providing a security for funds that they are not directly receiving (for example a company loan) by way of either a guarantee or a charge on their property. You may also be asked to obtain advice if you are looking to secure a loan or a debt by way of a 2nd charge on your property.
Fees
Our basic fee for reviewing and advising on a single charge or guarantee is £500. We are not currently required to charge VAT on invoices delivered for our services. Lender’s arrangements do however vary considerably in complexity and we will therefore ask to see the document(s) in question so that we can conduct a preliminary review before providing a final quote.