ImagesMagUK_December_2020

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 24 images DECEMBER 2020 What are the alternatives to using a solicitor? H aving a legal problem within your business is very stressful. The instinctive thought that enters your head is “I need help”, and the first person that springs to mind for such help is a solicitor. However, the cost of using a solicitor can be financially prohibitive for smaller businesses and still not desirable in larger ones. Solicitors charge fees of anywhere between £150 per hour to £600+ per hour. Yet non-solicitors can deal with a large percentage of legal matters. These days there are alternatives to consider such as employing the services of a mediator, a McKenzie Friend or a paralegal. Recently, the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation by Professor Stephen Mayson stated that a survey of statutorily regulated lawyers (solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives) confirmed that only 20% of the work they do falls within the remit of reserved legal activities (meaning those that are reserved for solicitors, barristers and legal executives only to perform). This means that non-solicitors can carry out 80% of all other legal work. Of course, it depends on the legal issue, but in many cases, finding a mediator will assist you and your opponent to resolve the issues you may have, and is far less costly than instructing a solicitor. Mediators are trained to help and guide the parties to understand and focus on the main issues in order to find a satisfactory solution acceptable to both parties. Even if your legal issue means taking someone to court, or defending a claim against you, you can do this yourself if it’s a relatively small civil claim. To help, you can use the services of either a paralegal or a McKenzie Friend. ■ McKenzie Friend A McKenzie Friend is usually a person who’ll accompany you to court if you’re attending as a litigant in person. Because you’re not represented by a solicitor or barrister, a McKenzie Friend can give advice and support. More often than not they’ll have no legal qualifications, but will have experience of court matters. They can be family members or friends accompanying you for moral support or they can be volunteers from charitable organisations. Quite often they don’t charge fees, but it’s a growing trend for them to charge a nominal amount to assist you in this way. ■ Paralegal practitioner A paralegal is distinguished from a McKenzie Friend in that they’ll usually have a legal or paralegal qualification and may have a licence to practise. There’s often, therefore, a fee to pay for their services, but it’s not as high as those of a solicitor. Generally, a paralegal’s fees are anywhere between £40–£80 per hour. The kind of cases that you can call upon a paralegal to assist you with are varied. In fact, a paralegal practitioner can assist with most cases that a solicitor can as long as they don’t perform any ‘reserved activities’. These activities are solely for solicitors and, in some cases, barristers to perform, and include having an automatic ‘right of audience’. This means that solicitors and barristers have an automatic right to represent clients in court and speak on their behalf. This right is not granted to paralegals or McKenzie Friends. However, in some instances, the judge in a court case can grant such a right at their discretion, provided they are satisfied in respect of the competency of the paralegal/ McKenzie Friend and believe it is in the best interests of justice to do so. Paralegals aren’t able to act on your behalf to sell or purchase property or land unless they are licensed through the CLC (Council for Licensed Conveyancers). Paralegals and McKenzie Friends aren’t regulated by statute in the same way as solicitors and barristers are. There are, however, organisations that are voluntary regulators, such as NALP (National Association of Licensed Paralegals) or The Society of Professional McKenzie Friends, which have strict codes of conduct that members must follow. When choosing a paralegal or McKenzie Friend it’s always advisable to ensure they’re members of such a body. For further information on alternatives to using a solicitor go to www.legalchoices.org.uk. Expert advice on the business of running a garment decoration company Q&A Amanda Hamilton is the chief executive of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals (NALP), a non-profit membership body and the only paralegal body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual (the regulator of qualifications in England). Through its centres, accredited recognised professional paralegal qualifications are offered for a career as a paralegal professional. www.nationalparalegals.co.uk