“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure . . . .”

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According to a recent Kingston University study:

A.  83 percent of UK small businesses see legal services as unaffordable, and over half of those who have a legal problem try to resolve it on their own.  

B.  Overall, UK small firms’ use of legal services is low: fewer than 5% employed a legal professional (or person with legal training) in-house and only 8.5% had a retainer with a legal services provider.

C.  Only 13% of UK firms viewed lawyers as being cost-effective.

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) do business in a fast-changing sea of laws and regulations which can carry severe penalties for non-compliance; trying to navigate through these legal complexities without the guidance of experienced lawyers is a risk that SMEs can ill afford to take, though it seems many do. This complexity and risk is compounded by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the required implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), among other developments.

Many UK law firms (especially larger ones) have been slow to address this problem of under-utilisation, instead clinging to the “billable hour” (often between £300 and £700 or more per hour!) as the basis for providing services to clients.   We have, by contrast, adopted flexible alternative fee arrangements that can prevent surprises and provide assurances in advance that fees will remain affordable.  

For example, we can agree in many cases to fixed or capped fees, day rates, retainer or subscription agreements, project-based rates and other arrangements that will both fit within budget and deliver the required legal services.  When we do agree an hourly rate, it is substantially lower than hourly rates charged by the much larger firms.  We combine  the experience that larger firms have, with a more efficient cost structure – we don’t maintain palatial offices or a “cast of thousands” of fee earners, and so we can pass the savings on to our clients.  

Kelly Owen Ltd.’s founders have collectively more than 50 years of legal practice experience in both contentious and non-contentious commercial legal services.  We also offer free, no-obligation, initial consultations to determine how we can best help you.  As a small business ourselves, we understand your issues and concerns, and can help provide pragmatic, cost-effective solutions.