The first callcosts nothing.
A four-partner firm on Bedford Row handling employment, family and private client matters. Every enquiry is read by a partner, hourly rates are published, and we will tell you when you do not need a solicitor.
- Established
- 1998
- Partners
- Four, plus three associates
- First conversation
- Thirty minutes, no charge
- Rates
- Published, on this page
What to expect from us
A partner reads your enquiry
Not a form-handling service and not a paralegal triaging by keyword. One of the four of us reads it and decides who should answer.
Rates are published
Hourly rates and fixed-fee work are both on this page. Nobody should have to sit through a meeting to find out what a solicitor costs.
We will say when you do not need us
A great many enquiries are answered in one call, at no charge, and that is the end of it. It is not charity, it is how a firm gets recommended.
You are told the range early
An estimate of total cost, in writing, before you instruct. Revised in writing if the matter changes shape.
What we do
Three areas, done properly. A firm this size claiming eleven specialisms is claiming something else.
Employment
Settlement agreements
Review, advice and negotiation. Usually completed within a week, and the employer normally contributes to the fee.
From £750fixed feeUnfair and constructive dismissal
Advice, tribunal claims and negotiated exits. We will tell you honestly at the outset whether a claim is worth bringing.
£320 an hourDiscrimination and whistleblowing
Including the pre-claim stages, which is where most of these are actually resolved.
£320 an hour
Family
Divorce and separation
Including the financial settlement, which is the part that takes the time and matters most.
£310 an hourChildren arrangements
Agreements, court applications, and mediation referrals where that is the better route.
£310 an hourPrenuptial and cohabitation agreements
Fixed fee, both parties separately advised.
From £1,800fixed fee
Private client
Wills
Single or mirror wills, drafted and executed. Storage included at no charge.
From £450fixed feeLasting powers of attorney
Both types, drafted and registered.
From £600fixed feeProbate and estate administration
Priced by the estate rather than as a percentage of it, which is unusual and deliberate.
From £2,400
Hourly rates are exclusive of VAT and disbursements, both of which are itemised on every bill. Fixed-fee work is fixed: if the matter turns out to be more complicated we will tell you before doing the work, not after.
Four partners, and no plans to be forty
On Bedford Row since 1998, deliberately the same size for the last decade.
A firm of this size can do something a large one structurally cannot: the partner you meet is the partner who does the work. There is no pitch team, no handover to an associate in month two, and no file that nobody has read in six weeks.
It also means we turn work away. Anything requiring specialist counsel we do not have, or a team we cannot field, goes to somebody better placed, and we will make the introduction rather than take the instruction and subcontract it.
Three associates and two paralegals work alongside the partners. Everybody's hourly rate is on this page, including theirs.
- Established
- 1998
- Partners
- Four
- Other fee earners
- Three associates, two paralegals
- Regulated by
- The relevant national body
Who would handle your matter
Named, with the areas each of us actually practises in rather than the ones the firm advertises.
Idris Ashgrove
Senior partner, employment
Founded the firm in 1998 after eleven years at a City practice. Takes most of the settlement agreements and all of the tribunal advocacy, and is the partner who reads the enquiries that arrive overnight.
- Admitted 1990
- Employment Lawyers Association
- Higher rights of audience
The kinds of outcome we obtain
Described by type rather than by figure, and the reason is in the note below rather than buried in a footer.
- Negotiated exit before proceedingsEmployment. The most common outcome, and the cheapest for the client.
- Settlement agreement improved on the offer madeEmployment. Usually resolved within a week of instruction.
- Financial settlement agreed without a final hearingFamily. Reached through negotiation or mediation.
- Children arrangements order by consentFamily. Agreed between the parties and approved by the court.
- Estate administered within the statutory yearPrivate client. Including estates with property in more than one jurisdiction.
No figures, no client names and no case studies appear here, and that is deliberate rather than modest. Past results do not indicate future ones, settlement terms are usually confidential, and identifying a client requires their written consent. A firm publishing a table of settlement figures is either doing so with consent it can evidence, or is creating a regulatory problem for itself. This band is the shape a real firm can actually ship.
Written by the partners
- What a settlement agreement actually saysAnd which three clauses are worth negotiatingAugust 2026
- Mediation before proceedings, honestly assessedWhen it works, and when it wastes a yearJune 2026
- Making a will when you own property abroadThe question that generates most of our private client callsApril 2026
- Constructive dismissal is harder than you thinkWhy we talk more people out of these than into themFebruary 2026
These articles are invented for this demo. On a live site this band links to writing the firm has actually published, which is one of the few forms of proof a regulated practice can offer freely.
Before you get in touch
Is the first conversation really free?
Thirty minutes, no charge, no obligation. A good proportion of them end with us saying you do not need a solicitor, which is the answer we would want if it were us.
What will it cost in total?
You get an estimate of the total in writing before you instruct us, and a revised one in writing if the matter changes shape. Hourly rates are on this page so you can do the arithmetic yourself first.
Is my enquiry confidential?
Yes, from the moment it arrives, whether or not you go on to instruct us. The enquiry form on this page is not connected to any advertising or analytics tool.
Do you offer legal aid?
No. Where legal aid may be available we will say so and point you to a firm that holds a contract, rather than quietly taking the matter privately.
Can you act if the other side has already instructed solicitors?
Yes, and it is usually better to have somebody once that has happened. We can also act where you have already started and want to change firms.
Tell us what has happened
Read by a partner, usually the same day. Confidential from the moment it arrives, whether or not you go on to instruct us.
Call instead if
- There is a deadline this week
- You would rather not put it in writing at all
- You are not sure whether this is even a legal matter