Our Service
We provide solicitors' services for both private and commercial clients.
We do not have a Legal Aid franchise and are not able to offer publicly funded work (Legal Aid).
Property
Simon Walker deals with commercial (most usually leasehold) property and has close working contacts with local commercial agents.
We have a skilled and experienced residential property department. Though we maintain a personal service, we charge competitively.
Click here for some helpful material on conveyancing.
Business Advice
We can offer advice to companies, partnerships and sole traders. Business advice covers formation, property (and this includes Landlord & Tenant Act work), finance and employment. Over a broad range, we are able to offer a helpful, client-based service with wide experience.
Matrimonial
Simon Walker is a long-standing member of Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association) and has extensive experience of the particular problems involved in the breakdown of marriage/co-habitation.
Click here for a link to our matrimonial advice.
Litigation
We have wide experience dealing with all kinds of civil disputes - from boundary disputes to commercial claims.
Formal litigation is only one way of dealing with these problems and we will advise on alternative dispute resolution, covering arbitration, expert determination, conciliation and mediation. There is a place for each of these and any one of them might be relevant to help with the problem you have. Generally speaking, we see litigation as a last resort – but a resort you may need to turn to none-the-less.
Estate and Wealth Management
This is an area of particular responsibility and we will be happy to talk to you about your requirements and how we may be able to help before you decide whether or not to instruct us. This point, of course, applies to all of the work we do but it has particular relevance here. We are able to offer helpfully wide experience in managing and arranging your affairs in the most tax-efficient way, minimising charges for Inheritance Tax and Pre-Owned Assets Tax. We have wide experience drawing up both simple and complex Wills.
Click here for some helpful material on Will preparation.
Debt Collection
Though strictly falling under litigation, debt collection has its own place because it is a standardised process for going through undefended Court proceedings: since the assumption is that the claim is not defended, we can base our charges on a different regime. Many agencies offer debt collection processes. Some will suit you; others will not. The advantage of using us to deal with debt collection is that, if a “debt collection” matter becomes contested, we can offer you expert advice as your claim develops. We aim to make our debt collection charge competitive, but of course we charge more than the cut-price agencies. Using us will often turn out to be cost-saving in the long run.
Click here for our Debt Collection Advice.
Charges
We can give you an estimate (indicative) of costs for most conveyancing and probate work. Please contact us by email or telephone (see the Contact page of this site).
Because wills are so important and we want to encourage our clients to manage and arrange their affairs, we do this work for a discounted fee and will be happy to give you an estimate.
Contentious work (this covers both litigation and matrimonial) is in part dependant on the approach and intentions of others. We can explain how our bill will be assessed (heavily based on time spent), and advise on the likely outcome. But court-based work is notoriously fickle; and although many elements can be addressed with some certainty, the outcome is essentially unreliable. Both you and we have to deal with this kind of work, and the cost it can generate, with caution.