Public (Non-Professional) Clients
Ashley Taylors Legal understands that many people deal with their own legal matters, acting as “Litigant-in-Person”, by bringing (“Issuing”) or “Defending” their claims themselves but we also know you may not feel confident appearing alone in Court in front of a Judge to present your case.
It can be a daunting experience, but also time-consuming even for the most confident Litigant. For a whole variety of good reasons our Advocates are instructed by both professional lawyers and Litigants in Person every day. Ashley Taylors Legal are here to help!
Advocacy Services at Ashley Taylors Legal will be happy to provide an Advocate to speak on your behalf in the County Court, and below are our requirements from you – and what you can expect from us.
Upon instructing the Advocacy Services of Ashley Taylors Legal to attend a hearing for the Private Landlord Individual/Litigant in person, the process for this booking is as follows:
ONE
You will be expected to have Issued your claim yourself or through legal advisors, and will have received the “Notice of Hearing” from the Court. At point of Booking, please email this Notice Of Hearing (or Claim Form completed by the Court with the Directions listing the hearing) to court@ashleytaylors.co.uk with your full name and postal address.
TWO
We are professionally obliged to conduct a check to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest which would impact our ability to represent you. We do not act for both sides of the same claim, for example.
Within 24 hours of receiving the notice of hearing we will confirm whether we can work on your behalf or not.
THREE
In the confirmation we will also provide a quote for our services and a contact information sheet.
This sheet is an absolute requirement in enabling us to complete the Client Care Letter (see step 5 below) and comply with the regulations of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
FOUR
On receipt of the completed contact information sheet and confirmation that you accept the quote we will confirm the Booking and put an appropriate Advocate in place.
FIVE
We will then email you a copy of our Client Care Letter and our invoice.
The client care letter sets out the key information and is the contract which you need to agree on how we will deal with your matter.
SIX
You must read this letter carefully and are required to return a copy which you have signed and dated.
Payment of the invoice is due immediately.
If we do not receive payment or the signed copy of the client care letter at least 24 hours before the hearing, we reserve the right to cancel your booking.
SEVEN
Ahead of the hearing, you must supply us with the paperwork to be used by our Advocate to represent you at court. These usually include (but are not limited to)
- The claim form and particulars of claim
- Witness statements.
- Defence
- Correspondence between you and your opponent
- Court documents
- An Instruction letter – This sets out exactly what you require the Advocate to do for you at the hearing, including if you want to request your costs of bringing the claim.
If you need the Judge to consider any papers, these papers will need to be served on your opponent and filed at Court in good time before the hearing date.
Everything that you have sent to Court could be useful to your Advocate, so send us copies of everything you file as evidence.
EIGHT
Your assigned Advocate will review your Papers and prepare for the hearing.
1-2 days before the hearing, the Advocate will contact you to discuss the hearing and to arrange where to meet if you are attending Court too.
NINE
On the day of the hearing, if you will be at Court or if someone is attending on your behalf, the Advocate will explain what will happen during the hearing but will not be able to give Legal Advice. This is made clear in our contract and Client Care Letter.
After the hearing, the Advocate will clarify anything that was not clear to you.
TEN
After the hearing the Advocate will immediately report to us a brief outcome of the hearing, highlighting the key points, and within 48 hours we will provide you a copy of the full Advocate’s Report.
Please note that the Advocacy Services of Ashley Taylors Legal and the attending advocate will not be sent anything from the Court directly, due to not being on record for the hearing. All correspondence from the Court will be sent directly to you or your legal advisors.
The attending advocates are not to be contacted directly prior or after the hearing due to the attending advocates involvement in the matter is only for representation at the hearing and not for Legal Advice.
All correspondence to the Advocacy Services department should be sent to the email address court@ashleytaylors.co.uk
Contact Ashley Taylors Legal
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