These terms are to be read together with your Client Care Letter
This document sets out the contractual basis on which Just Family Law Limited provides legal services. Your Client Care Letter identifies the work we have agreed to undertake, the person responsible for your matter, the charging basis and any matter specific arrangements. Please read both documents carefully and tell us promptly if anything is unclear.
1.1 Just Family Law is a trading name of Just Family Law Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 08472669. Our registered office and principal place of business is Southgate Chambers, 37–39 Southgate Street, Winchester SO23 9EH.
1.2 Just Family Law Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Our firm SRA number is 612972. We are authorised to provide reserved legal services, including the conduct of litigation and rights of audience where undertaken by appropriately authorised
individuals.
1.3 Our VAT registration number is 994754653. VAT is charged at the prevailing rate where applicable.
1.4 We are members of Resolution and, where appropriate, seek to conduct family matters constructively, proportionately and without unnecessary conflict. This does not prevent us from acting firmly where your interests require it.
1.5 References in these terms to “we”, “us”, “our” or “the Firm” mean Just Family Law Limited. Advice and services are
provided by the Firm and not by an individual employee or consultant personally.
1.6 The title “Partner” is used to denote status and seniority within Just Family Law Limited. It does not, of itself, denote ownership, directorship or the existence of a legal partnership.
• Joanne Houston – Founder, Managing Director & Partner; Collaborative Solicitor
• Georgina Suman – Salaried Partner
• Emma Sanders – Salaried Partner; Mediator & Collaborative Solicitor
• Kate Evans – Senior Paralegal
• Sam Shotter – Client Care Manager; Divorce & Separation Support
• Jenny Freeman – Administrative Legal Support
• Deborah Murray – Administrative Legal Support
• Helen Guy – Accounts & Finance
1.7 Your Client Care Letter will identify who has day-to-day conduct of your matter and, where relevant, the authorised solicitor responsible for the conduct of litigation. Work may be delegated to other members of the team under appropriate supervision.
2.1 We will provide our services with reasonable skill, care and attention and communicate with you in clear, practical
language.
2.2 We will explain the legal work required, the main issues, the options available, likely timescales and likely costs so that you can make informed decisions.
2.3 We will keep you informed of material developments and will seek instructions when required. Time spent providing updates, considering correspondence or responding to requests for information is chargeable unless we tell you otherwise.
2.4 We will keep your costs under review and provide updated estimates where it appears that the original estimate may materially change, including before hearings, conferences, round table meetings, mediation, arbitration or other
substantial stages. We work as a team. The solicitor with overall responsibility for your matter will be supported by other appropriately qualified members of the team where appropriate. This helps us to progress your matter efficiently, provide continuity of service and ensure that work is carried out by the most appropriate person.
2.5 We will try to avoid unnecessary changes in the person handling your matter. If a change is required, we will tell you and ensure an appropriate handover.
3.1 You agree to give us clear, accurate, timely and complete instructions and to provide documents and information
requested by us promptly and in an orderly format.
3.2 You must tell us promptly about any change to your contact details, circumstances, finances, safety concerns or other facts that may materially affect your matter.
3.3 You must preserve documents, messages, electronic data and other material that may be relevant to your matter or may need to be disclosed.
3.4 You agree to pay our invoices, requests for money on account and requested disbursements in accordance with these terms.
3.5 If documents are provided in an excessive, disorganised, duplicated or incomplete form, or in multiple emails, or we have to chase repeatedly for instructions or information, you will be charged for the reasonable time required to deal with this.
3.6 Family matters can be stressful and emotional. We will not tolerate abusive, discriminatory, aggressive, threatening or persistently unreasonable language being used or behaviour towards our staff, consultants or agents. Such conduct may amount to good reason for us to cease acting.
4.1 The scope of our retainer is set out in your Client Care Letter. We are not responsible for advising on matters outside that scope unless we agree in writing to extend it.
4.2 We advise on the law of England and Wales only unless expressly agreed otherwise.
4.3 We do not provide regulated financial advice, investment advice, accountancy advice, specialist tax advice or pension transfer advice. Where such advice is required, we may recommend that you obtain advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
4.4 We do not provide legal aid funded services. If it becomes apparent that you may be eligible for legal aid, we will tell you. You should also consider whether legal expenses insurance, union membership, employee benefits or third-party funding may assist with your legal costs.
4.5 Unless otherwise agreed in writing, we have no continuing obligation after our retainer ends to advise you about future changes in law, limitation periods, review dates or steps that may subsequently become advisable.
5.1 Unless a fixed fee is expressly agreed in writing, our charges are calculated by reference to the time reasonably spent on your matter at the hourly rates stated in your Client Care Letter, plus VAT.
5.2 Time is recorded and charged in six-minute units. Each six minute unit represents one tenth of the applicable hourly rate. Work lasting less than six minutes may therefore be charged as one six-minute unit. Chargeable work includes meetings, telephone and video calls, correspondence and emails to and from you and third parties, drafting, document review, legal research, disclosure, bundle preparation, supervision, file reviews, costs reviews, anti-money laundering and compliance work, preparation for and attendance at hearings or meetings, travel and waiting time, and other work reasonably undertaken in connection with your instructions.
5.3 Where work is delegated, you will be charged at the applicable rate for the person carrying out that work. This is intended to ensure work is handled at an appropriate level of seniority and cost.
5.4 Any estimate is based on the information available to us at the time and is not a fixed cap unless expressly described as such. Costs may increase because of changes in your instructions, urgency, complexity, additional evidence, the conduct of another party, court directions, adjournments, additional hearings or other unforeseen work.
5.5 Our hourly rates are reviewed periodically. We will give reasonable notice of any increase. If you continue to instruct us after the revised rate takes effect, you will be treated as accepting it.
5.6 If your matter ends before completion, we are entitled to charge for all work properly carried out and expenses incurred up to the date our retainer ends.
5.7 Where we agree a fixed fee, the fixed fee applies only to the work and assumptions expressly identified in the Client Care Letter or other written agreement. Work outside that agreed scope, or additional work required because the circumstances or your instructions change, will be charged separately on the basis agreed with you and, unless otherwise stated, at our applicable hourly rates.
6.1 Disbursements are costs payable to third parties and may include court fees, counsel’s fees, expert fees, mediator or arbitrator fees, pension expert fees, valuation fees, process server fees, Land Registry fees, interpreting or translation fees, ID verification fees, travel expenses and other third party charges.
6.2 We will require cleared funds in advance for anticipated disbursements and third-party costs before they are incurred or the relevant third party is instructed. We are not obliged to incur a disbursement, issue an application requiring a court fee, instruct counsel or an expert, or otherwise commit the Firm to expenditure until sufficient cleared funds are held. We will tell you when funds are required and, where reasonably practicable, the anticipated amount.
6.3 If counsel, an expert or another professional is booked and a hearing, conference or appointment is cancelled or postponed, a cancellation or brief fee may still be payable. You are responsible for any such fee properly incurred.
6.4 Third-party professionals are independent of the Firm and are responsible for their own advice and work. We do not exclude liability for our own negligence in selecting or instructing them.
7.1 We generally issue invoices monthly where work exceeds £200. We may also issue invoices at key stages, on
completion or at such other intervals as we consider appropriate having regard to the work undertaken and the circumstances of your matter.
7.2 Unless an invoice states otherwise, an interim invoice is intended to be a final and self-contained bill for the work and period it covers. A final invoice will cover work not previously billed.
7.3 Invoices are due for payment within 7 days of the date of issue unless we agree otherwise in writing. Money held on account of our professional fees is not normally used to pay interim invoices during the course of the matter, so you remain responsible for paying each interim invoice separately when it falls due.
7.4 If you have a query about an invoice, please raise it promptly with the person responsible for your matter. A query or complaint does not remove the obligation to pay sums properly due, but it does not affect any statutory right you may have to challenge or seek assessment of our bill.
7.5 You may have the right to apply to the court for assessment of our charges under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. The applicable time limits depend on the circumstances, including when the bill was delivered and whether it has been paid. You should obtain independent advice promptly if you wish to challenge a bill.
8.1 We require an initial payment on account of anticipated fees and VAT before commencing substantive work on your matter. The amount required will be confirmed in your Client Care Letter or otherwise notified to you in writing.
8.2 You are required to maintain an appropriate sum on account throughout your matter. We will therefore request further payments on account to ensure that sufficient funds remain available, having regard to the work anticipated, the stage your matter has reached, forthcoming hearings, meetings or appointments, and the likely level of future costs.
8.3 Our normal practice is to retain money held on account of our professional fees in our client account throughout the matter rather than routinely applying it to monthly or interim invoices. The fact that we hold money on account does not remove your obligation to pay interim invoices separately when they fall due. Money held on account remains your money until it is properly applied to a bill or disbursement in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules.
8.4 Any amount requested or held on account is an advance towards anticipated costs only. It is not a quotation, fixed fee, estimate of the total cost of your matter or a limit on the fees, VAT and expenses that may ultimately be incurred. The amount we require you to maintain on account may increase or decrease as your matter progresses.
8.5 In addition to money held on account of our professional fees, we will request funds in advance for disbursements and thirdparty costs, including court fees, counsel’s fees, expert fees and other expenditure referred to in section 6. Money provided for a particular disbursement or third-party cost may be used to pay that expense when it falls due.
8.6 At the conclusion or termination of your matter, we may apply money held on account towards any properly rendered final or outstanding invoice, VAT, disbursement or other sum properly due to the Firm. Once all sums properly due to the Firm and any outstanding third-party liabilities have been dealt with, any remaining balance will be returned to you in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules.
8.7 If you fail to provide or replenish money on account when requested, fail to pay an invoice when due or fail to provide funds required for a disbursement, we may suspend work, decline to undertake further work, decline to incur or commit to expenditure, or, where professionally permissible, cease acting for you. This may affect our ability to take urgent steps, issue applications, file documents, instruct counsel or experts, attend hearings or otherwise progress your matter.
9.1 Payments should be made using the payment method specified on our invoice or through a secure payment route notified by us. We do not accept cash.
9.2 We will never notify you of a change to our bank account details by email alone. Before transferring funds, you must verify the account details using a trusted telephone number or other verified method. If you receive any communication purporting to change our bank details, do not act on it and contact us immediately.
9.3 Where a third party proposes to pay money on your behalf, we may require that person to complete identity, source of funds, source of wealth and other compliance checks before we accept or use the funds. Acceptance of payment from a third party does not make that person our client or give them any right to information about your matter.
9.4 Client money will be held in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules. Where required, we will account to you for a fair sum of interest in accordance with those Rules and our client money interest policy.
9.5 Before transferring money held for our fees from client account to business account, we will deliver a bill or other written notification of the amount due and will only transfer the amount properly identified as payable. This includes any transfer made at the conclusion or termination of your matter from money held on account under section 8.
9.6 Client money may be eligible for protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The standard
deposit protection limit is currently £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised bank, building society or credit union, subject to the Scheme rules. Additional temporary high balance protection may apply in some circumstances. Limits and eligibility may change.
9.7 We are not liable for a banking institution’s failure or insolvency except to the extent liability cannot lawfully be excluded. Any FSCS protection may be affected by other money you hold personally with the same banking group.
10.1 If an invoice is not paid within 7 days, we may refer the account to our credit controller, require immediate payment and/or replenishment of monies on account, suspend work or, where appropriate, cease acting.
10.2 We reserve the right to charge simple interest on any overdue invoice at 8% per annum from the date payment
became due until payment is received in full, whether payment is made before or after proceedings are issued. We may waive or reduce interest at our discretion.
10.3 If enforcement action is reasonably required to recover any sum due to us, you agree as a contractual obligation to reimburse the Firm for the reasonable legal costs, court fees, tracing fees, enforcement fees, counsel’s fees and other expenses actually incurred in recovering that sum, whether or not proceedings are issued.
10.4 The obligation in clause 10.3 is a contractual entitlement separate from any entitlement to costs under the Civil Procedure Rules. Any costs claimed remain subject to the court’s jurisdiction as to reasonableness and recoverability.
10.5 To the extent CPR 45.1(3) applies and permits the parties to agree that fixed recoverable costs should not apply, you and the Firm expressly agree that the fixed recoverable costs provisions of CPR Part 45 shall not limit the Firm’s contractual entitlement under clause 10.3.
10.6 Where a contractual entitlement to recovery costs is enforceable in proceedings allocated to the small claims track, the Firm may rely upon that contractual entitlement, subject to the court’s powers under CPR 44.5 and any other applicable rule or law.
10.7 Nothing in this section entitles us to recover costs that were not reasonably incurred or are unreasonable in amount.
11.1 In family proceedings, the usual position is that each party bears their own legal costs, although the court may make costs orders in appropriate circumstances.
11.2 You remain responsible for our invoices in full even if another person agrees or is ordered to pay some or all of your costs.
11.3 If a costs order is made in your favour, the amount recoverable may be less than the costs you have incurred. Unless we agree otherwise, you must pay our invoices and pursue any recovery from the other party separately.
11.4 You may also be ordered to pay some or all of another party’s costs. Any such liability is separate from your obligation to pay our fees and disbursements.
12.1 Subject to applicable law and professional obligations, we may exercise a solicitor’s lien over papers, documents or other property properly in our possession while fees or disbursements remain unpaid.
12.2 Where permitted, we may apply to the court under section 73 of the Solicitors Act 1974 for a charge over property recovered or preserved through proceedings in which we have acted for you.
12.3 If monies are received on your behalf, including settlement monies, sale proceeds or a lump sum, we may apply sums held for you towards invoices and disbursements properly due after complying with the SRA Accounts Rules and giving the required bill or written notification.
13.1 Our solicitors owe duties to the court and to the proper administration of justice. Those duties may override duties owed to you as our client.
13.2 We will not knowingly or recklessly mislead the court, assist another person to mislead the court, place ourselves in contempt, misuse evidence or act in breach of professional obligations.
13.3 If you ask us to act unlawfully, dishonestly, misleadingly, abusively or contrary to our professional duties, we may refuse the instruction and may have good reason to cease acting.
13.4 The conduct of litigation is a reserved legal activity. Where your matter involves court proceedings, formal steps
constituting the conduct of litigation will be undertaken by or under the responsibility of an appropriately authorised
person. Other work may be delegated under supervision.
14.1 We must comply with anti-money laundering, counterterrorist financing, sanctions and related legal and regulatory requirements. We may carry out checks even where they are not strictly mandatory if we consider this appropriate for risk management or regulatory compliance.
14.2 You agree to provide promptly any information or documentation reasonably required to verify identity,
address, source of funds, source of wealth, beneficial ownership or the purpose of a transaction.
14.3 If we cannot complete required checks, or identify a sanctions, source of funds or other regulatory concern, we
may have to delay or suspend work, refuse or return funds, freeze funds where required, make a report to the relevant authority or cease acting.
14.4 The law may prevent us from telling you that a report has been made or explaining fully why particular steps have been taken. We are not liable for loss or delay arising from compliance with legal or regulatory obligations except where liability cannot lawfully be excluded.
15.1 We will keep your affairs confidential subject to our legal, regulatory and professional obligations. Our Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, retain and share personal data and how you may exercise your data protection rights.
15.2 Staff, consultants, auditors, insurers, regulators, accreditation bodies and service providers may have access
to information where reasonably necessary for the provision of legal services, administration, insurance, audit, compliance, technology or regulatory purposes. Appropriate confidentiality and data protection obligations will apply.
15.3 Family matters often involve private information belonging to other people. You must not unlawfully access, copy, intercept, retain, download or use another person’s private emails, messages, devices, accounts, bank records or documents.
15.4 If you have access to information or documents belonging to another person which may be private or confidential, you should not obtain, access, copy, download, retain or forward them without first taking legal advice. This includes information held in emails, electronic devices, online accounts, cloud storage or other private records, even if you know or have previously been given a password or other means of access.
If you already possess information or documents which may have been obtained from another person’s private or
confidential materials, tell us before sending, copying or relying upon them so that we can advise you how they should be handled.
Improperly obtaining or using private or confidential material can have serious consequences. You may be required to return or delete the material, the court may restrict the use that can be made of it, and there may be costs consequences or potential civil or criminal liability. We may also be unable to review or retain the material and may be required to take specific steps in relation to it.
16.1 We may communicate with you by email, telephone, video call, post, secure portal or other appropriate electronic means. Email and electronic communication carry inherent security risks.
16.2 We do not accept service of court proceedings, applications, orders or other formal documents by email unless we expressly agree in writing to accept service of that particular document.
16.3 We may use secure case management, document management, research, transcription, document review and artificial intelligence tools to support the efficient provision of legal services. Legal work remains subject to appropriate human supervision and review.
16.4 We will not knowingly place confidential client information into public AI systems without appropriate safeguards, and we will not knowingly permit confidential information to be used to train public models without appropriate contractual, technical and organisational protections.
16.5 You should not upload our advice, privileged correspondence, confidential case documents or other sensitive information relating to your matter to public AI, transcription or similar online services without first considering the risks to confidentiality, legal professional privilege and data protection.
You should also exercise caution when using AI to obtain legal information or to prepare documents relating to your
case. AI-generated information may be inaccurate, incomplete or misleading and should not be relied upon as a
substitute for legal advice.
In particular, you should not use AI to generate or materially rewrite witness statements, statements of evidence or other documents intended to record your personal recollection or evidence without first discussing this with us. Such documents may need to be in your own words and accurately reflect your own evidence.
If you have used AI in connection with any document or information which you intend to provide to us, another party or the court, please tell us so that we can advise you appropriately.
17.1 We operate a substantially paperless practice. Files may be stored electronically in secure cloud-based or hosted systems protected by appropriate technical and organisational measures.
Where we prepare or hold an original Will or other document which requires physical safekeeping, we may arrange for the original to be stored securely on your behalf by an external document storage provider. We will tell you where the original is being held and how it may be retrieved.
Where external storage is used, we may provide the storage provider with such information as is reasonably necessary to identify, store and retrieve the document. Any such arrangement will be subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection requirements.
You should keep us informed of any change to your name, address or contact details so that our records relating to stored documents remain up to date.
17.2 We will normally retain files and records for 15 years following completion or termination of the matter. This reflects the Firm’s risk-management approach and enables us to respond to later enquiries, requests for documents and potential claims. We may retain records for longer where required by law, regulation, insurance, professional obligations or the nature of the matter.
17.3 After the applicable retention period, we may confidentially destroy the file without further notice to you unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.
17.4 Original documents supplied by you will normally be returned during the matter or on closure where appropriate. Once released, they become your responsibility.
17.5 If you request a copy of an archived or closed file, we may charge the reasonable cost of retrieval, scanning, collation, secure transfer, copying and staff time.
18.1 If at any point you are unhappy with our service, please tell the person dealing with your matter so that we can try to resolve the issue promptly. A copy of our Complaints Procedure is available on request.
18.2 If the concern is not resolved, or if you prefer, you may refer the complaint to Joanne Houston or to the person identified in your Client Care Letter as responsible for complaints.
18.3 We have up to eight weeks to provide our final response to a formal complaint.
18.4 If we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks, or you remain dissatisfied with our final response, you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman:
PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH; 0300 555 0333;
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk;
www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
18.5 The Legal Ombudsman will generally require a complaint to be referred within one year of the act or omission complained of, or within one year of when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint, and within six months of our final written response where we have properly notified you of that six-month period.
18.6 The Solicitors Regulation Authority deals with concerns about professional misconduct and regulatory breaches. Information is available at www.sra.org.uk.
18.7 A complaint does not entitle you to withhold payment of fees properly due, although making payment does not prevent you from pursuing a complaint or exercising any statutory right to challenge our charges.
19.1 If you are a consumer and our contract with you is concluded at a distance or away from our business premises, you may have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days without giving a reason.
19.2 If you expressly ask us to begin work during the 14-day cancellation period, you request early performance of the contract. If you subsequently cancel during that period, you will be required to pay our fees, VAT and any disbursements properly incurred for the services supplied up to the time we receive notice of cancellation. The amount payable will be proportionate to the services provided up to that point.
19.3 If the service is fully performed during the cancellation period after you have expressly requested early performance and acknowledged that the right to cancel will be lost on full performance, you may lose the right to cancel.
19.4 Where applicable, a model cancellation form is included at Schedule 2. You do not have to use that form; a clear written statement that you wish to cancel is sufficient.
20.1 You may end your instructions to us in writing at any time. We will stop work as soon as reasonably practicable and invoice you for work done and disbursements incurred up to termination.
20.2 We may cease acting only with good reason and on reasonable notice where practicable. Good reason may
include failure to provide instructions, failure to provide information or documents, non-payment, failure to maintain requested funds on account, a conflict of interest, loss of confidence, abusive conduct, professional or regulatory concerns, or a material breach of these terms.
20.3 If court proceedings are ongoing, termination may require an application or other steps to come off the court record. You are responsible for the reasonable costs of work required to protect your position and end our retainer properly.
21.1 Where we act for more than one client jointly, information received from one joint client may need to be shared with the other. Joint clients are jointly and severally liable for our fees and disbursements unless we agree otherwise in writing.
21.2 If a conflict arises between jointly instructing clients, we may have to cease acting for one or both clients.
21.3 Where we provide a One Couple One Lawyer / Resolution Together service, the particular nature, limits, suitability criteria, confidentiality arrangements and charging structure for that process will be set out separately in the Client Care Letter and any process agreement. Suitability will be kept under review throughout.
22.1 We maintain professional indemnity insurance in accordance with SRA requirements. Details of our current insurer and territorial cover are available on request.
22.2 Unless your Client Care Letter expressly states a higher limit, our aggregate liability arising from any one claim or series of related claims is limited to £3,000,000, including interest and costs, to the extent such limitation is lawful and consistent with SRA requirements.
22.3 We are not liable for indirect, consequential, exemplary or special loss, or for loss of profit, opportunity or business, except to the extent such loss cannot lawfully be excluded.
22.4 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
22.5 Our advice is provided for you and for the purpose of the matter on which we are instructed. No third party may rely on it without our prior written consent.
23.1 If any provision of these terms is found to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be treated as severed to the minimum extent necessary and the remainder will continue in force.
23.2 No failure or delay by us in exercising a right or remedy will operate as a waiver of that right or remedy.
23.3 We may update these standard terms from time to time. We will notify you of any material change that applies to an ongoing retainer.
23.4 If the Firm merges, restructures, transfers its business or work to a successor practice, our rights and obligations under the retainer may transfer where legally permitted. We will notify you of any material change affecting your matter.
23.5 These terms, your Client Care Letter and our retainer are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over disputes arising from or connected with them.
24.1 Please sign and return these Terms of Business and your Client Care Letter. Your continuing instructions after receiving them will also amount to acceptance of the contractual terms on which we act, subject to any statutory cancellation rights.
Where the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply to your
engagement with us, you will normally have a statutory right to cancel your contract with us within 14 days of the contract being entered into. Details of your cancellation rights and a model cancellation form are set out at Schedule 2 to these Terms of Business.
If you would like us to start acting for you before the 14-day cancellation period has expired, you must expressly ask us to do so. If you ask us to begin work during the cancellation period and subsequently cancel your instructions, you will be responsible for our reasonable charges for the work carried out up to the point at which you cancel.
The law requires us to establish whether you are, or are a family member or known close associate of, a person who holds or has held certain prominent public functions (a politically exposed person or “PEP”). To ensure that this does not delay your instructions to us, please tell us if you believe this may apply.
By continuing to instruct us, you confirm that you will be responsible for our costs and that you agree to the terms set out in your Client Care Letter and these Terms of Business. However, please sign and return these documents to us by post, by email or electronically using our digital signing service.
If we do not receive signed copies but you nevertheless ask us to begin work or continue to provide us with verbal or
written instructions, we reserve the right to rely upon those instructions as confirmation that you wish us to act and to invoice you for work undertaken on your behalf, subject to any statutory cancellation rights which apply.
We may start work once we have received any funds on account requested, completed our client identification and verification requirements and, where an applicable 14-day cancellation period has not expired, received your express request for us to begin work during that period.
| Fee Earner Category | Hourly Rate |
| One Couple One Lawyer (per couple) | £400 |
| High Court Proceedings | £360 |
| Joanne Houston | £350 |
| Georgina Suman | £310 |
| Emma Sanders | £300 |
| Kate Evans | £240 |
| Samantha Shotter | £120 |
| Deborah Murray | £120 |
| Winchester (Head Office) | 01962 217640 |
| Putney | 0203 150 1013 |
| Brighton | 01273 658020 |
| Haslemere | 01428 350091 |
| Derbyshire | 01629 702015 |
| Name | Position | Email Address |
| Joanne Houston | Founder, Managing Director & Partner Collaborative Solicitor | joannehouston@justfamily-law.com |
| Georgina Suman | Salaried Partner | georginasuman@justdamily-law.com |
| Emma Sanders | Salaried Partner Mediator & Collaborative Solicitor | emmasanders@justfamily-law.com |
| Kate Evans | Senior Paralegal | kateevans@just-familylaw.com |
| Samantha Shotter | Client Care Manager Divorce & Separation Support | samshotter@just-familylaw.com |
| Jenny Freeman | Administrative Legal Support | jennyfreeman@just-familylaw.com |
| Deborah Murray | Administrative Legal Support | deborahmurray@justfamily-law.com |
| Helen Guy | Accounts & Finance | admin@just-familylaw.com |
Where the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply to your engagement with us, you have the right to cancel your contract with us within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into. To exercise your right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel by a clear statement, for example by letter or email. You may use the model cancellation form below, but you do not have to do so.
Any notice of cancellation should be sent to: Just Family Law Limited. Southgate Chambers, 37–39 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9EH or by email to the solicitor responsible for your matter at the email address given in your Client Care Letter. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication exercising your right to cancel before the 14-day cancellation period has expired.
If you cancel the contract, we will reimburse any payments received from you which are not properly due for work undertaken on your behalf. We will make any reimbursement due without undue delay and, in any event, no later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed of your decision to cancel. Unless otherwise agreed, we will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment that you used for the original transaction and you will not incur any fee as a result of the reimbursement.
If you have expressly requested that we begin work during the 14- day cancellation period and you subsequently cancel during that period, you will remain responsible for paying the fees, VAT and disbursements properly incurred for work carried out up to the time we receive notice of cancellation. If, at your express request, the services have been fully performed during the cancellation period and you have acknowledged that your right to cancel will be lost once those services have been fully performed, your statutory right to cancel will cease once the services have been fully performed.
MODEL CANCELLATION FORM – Complete and return this form only
if you wish to cancel your contract.
