Public Access barristers, instructed directly.

A Public Access barrister can do almost everything you would expect from counsel. They can give written or oral advice on the merits of your case, draft letters before action, statements of case, witness statements and skeleton arguments, negotiate with the other side and represent you at hearings, mediations and trials.

What most Public Access barristers cannot do is conduct litigation. That means issuing proceedings, filing documents at court, serving papers on the other side and handling the day-to-day correspondence of a case on the court record. In practice you take on those administrative steps as a litigant in person, with the barrister telling you exactly what to file and when. Courts are used to this arrangement and it rarely causes difficulty.

Barristers also cannot hold client money. Fees are paid directly to the barrister or their chambers, usually in advance of each piece of work, under the terms of a written client care letter.

• Written advice on merits, prospects and value before you commit to proceedings.
• Drafting particulars of claim, defences, applications and witness statements.
• Representation at a single hearing such as an FDR, an injunction return date or a possession hearing.
• Tribunal advocacy in employment, property and immigration appeals.
• Settlement meetings and mediations where you want counsel beside you.
• Less suitable: heavy multi-party litigation, large disclosure exercises or cases where the client cannot manage court paperwork.

Send us a short outline of the problem, any deadline or hearing date, and the key documents you already have. We will identify suitable Public Access counsel, confirm their availability and obtain a fee for the specific work you need. Nothing is agreed until you have seen that fee.

The barrister will then carry out their own suitability check and conflict search. If they accept, they send a client care letter setting out the scope of work, the fee, when it is payable and what happens if the case changes. Once it is signed and the fee paid, work begins. For urgent matters this can happen within 24 hours.

Public Access fees are normally fixed per task. Written advice might range from a few hundred pounds on a narrow point to several thousand on a complex commercial or chancery matter. A day of court attendance by experienced counsel in most civil and family matters starts from around £1,000, with longer or more complex hearings quoted as a brief fee plus daily refreshers.

Because you are paying one professional rather than a solicitor and a barrister, the overall cost is often substantially lower than the traditional route. Clerk&Counsel's service fee of up to £150 depending on urgency is shown separately from the barrister's professional fee before you decide. There is no charge to make an enquiry.

Every barrister we introduce holds a current practising certificate, is registered for Public Access and carries professional indemnity insurance. You can verify any barrister yourself on the Barristers' Register. If something goes wrong, barristers have their own complaints procedure and you can escalate to the Legal Ombudsman.