How We Work

Last updated on September 6th, 2019 at 11:31 am

a) Who do you work with?

We work with entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes to make legal work, including completing transactions and settling disputes, as straightforward, hassle free and effective as possible.

b) What work do you do?

We are able to carry out most corporate and commercial legal work ourselves, commonly for fees far less than an established law firm. Over the years we’ve built up a great network of other reliable and experienced self-employed solicitors and small law firms who we are happy to work with or recommend when any aspects of work fall outside of our areas of expertise, or when we are unable to take on new work ourselves.

c) How do I instruct you?

The first step is to send Jonathan an email (jonathan@jonathanlea.net) to set-up a free initial telephone consultation.

For all new clients and matters we hold a non-chargeable and no obligation brief introductory call, usually 15-30 minutes, to learn more about you, discuss and understand your requirements, explain a few options that may be available to you and agree on any scope of work. Following which we can email you confirmation of any advice, contacts and ideas mentioned on the call, as well as any fees quoted for work identified.

We usually hold these initial calls at either 8.30 am or 9 am most mornings and ask that clients first email a few times you are available for such a call, together with some information on who you are and the issue you would like us to help you with.

We will always try to answer the phone, but unless we have scheduled a call it is unlikely we will be available to talk for more than a few seconds. If you email us requesting an answer or opinion it is rare that we can respond with a simple answer without first asking several questions and engaging in a discussion – to do this by email ping pong is much more time draining so unless we have been instructed by you and are getting paid for our time we instead ask you to arrange an initial call where we can discuss your issue and give appropriate guidance.

Once we have held an initial call with you and you subsequently confirm by email you would like to instruct us we then send you our engagement letter setting out the scope of work and fees agreed and our other terms of business. We then require some money on account before starting work on any new matter.

d) How soon will you be able to work on my matter?

Sometimes we happen to have some spare time, or are mostly working on non-urgent matters, meaning we can meet very quick turn around times and tight deadlines for clients.

Otherwise we commonly need at least one week’s notice before being able to start work on new matters. Regardless, we’ll always aim to be very responsive and if we can’t be available soon enough we’ll always try to put you in touch with another lawyer or law firm we trust and recommend.

e) Can I meet you?

Like many small businesses we find it hard to spend too much time away from our PCs and inboxes, however we are always happy for people to visit us at our office in Mid-Sussex while we also sometimes travel to London or further afield to meet a new client.

Otherwise, our work is carried out by phone and email and we successfully act for clients all around the world without ever meeting in person. We often make use of online video and conference call applications.

f) How much will my project cost?

It depends. We will discuss billing options on your initial call and very often there will be other points you need to consider that you will not have envisaged if you initially ask us for a quote.

For many matters we can agree a fixed fee (usually starting at £500), which means that no matter how long it takes us to complete the work, you only pay one fee. We’ll always try and be flexible in order to meet a client’s budget. Where it is difficult to determine the extent of our involvement at the outset, we will often adopt a hybrid method of charging whereby we agree a fixed fee for initial work we can define and then any additional assistance after this will either be billed on a time incurred basis or we will agree another fixed fee if such further work can be easily determined. Sometimes we can also offer you a reduced hourly rate. Regardless of the arrangement, our goal is to make sure you are happy, prepared to recommend us to others and that there are no end-of-the-month surprises regarding invoices.