Client services
Every client we deal with is unique: our ethos is to deliver a
flexible and responsive service working in a way which suits our
clients best. We are engaged on a large variety of assignments.
Most of our clients utilise our retainer service (see the panel
on the right) working in partnership on an ongoing basis. Alternatively
clients may approach us to offer assistance on specific pieces of
work.
Some of our recent client assignments have been as follows:
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Peer Review 'Mock
Audit'
We conducted a comprehensive review of this large firm's Crime
and Family files in order to provide an assessment of their
likely performance at peer review. Care was taken to ensure
sampling across the firm's offices and fee-earners and also
to ensure we covered the spread of work types. A comprehensive
report was presented to the firm along with a detailed list
of recommendations and suggestions for improvement including
precedent letters and forms. The aim was to embed best practice
across the firm reducing the risk of individual fee earners
negatively influencing a peer review audit. |
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Contract Compliance Audit
This firm (now a retained client) approached us to assist
with a Contract Compliance Audit for their civil work. Their
compliance with Legal Help rules and regulations was observed
to be problematic and likely to result in a Category 3 result
with potential clawback of large sums of money by the LSC.
We instituted urgent changes and the firm achieved Category
2 status. On detailed examination of the audit report we identified
a number of flaws and submitted an appeal on behalf of the
firm; the result was a Category 1 outcome with no clawback
of monies. |
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Tailored Fixed Fee Uplift Claims
One of the benefits of being a retained client is that we
keep our clients appraised of developments on a regular basis.
A simple email reminder to one of our clients resulted in
them being able to claim housing uplifts under the TFF scheme
of over £5K. This would have been left unclaimed but
for a simple email and demonstrates the beneficial impact
of having a close ongoing relationship.
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Development of Best Practice
For this major client of ours, we agreed to develop a best
practice 'toolkit' for their Family work. Following a detailed
assessment of Peer Review and SQM requirements we were able
to provide the firm with a suite of precedent client care
letters, fact sheets and checklists. This provided the firm
with the confidence to be assured of success at future audits.
It has also had a major impact on client service as clients
are provided with better information about the law and procedure. |
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Our retainer service ensures our clients
keep ahead of the curve in the fast-moving arena of publicly funded
services. The aim is to provide you with the confidence that your
documented quality systems are meeting the requirements of the LSC
allowing you to focus on your fee-earning. Our expertise in billing,
claiming and LSC regulations means that we are able to identify
areas of underclaiming or regulation breaches helping you to maximise
your income from legal aid and avoid expensive clawbacks by the
LSC.
We provide strategic support and advice to
our clients in relation to reforms and changes allowing them to
plan ahead more painlessly and exploit any opportunities that may
emerge.
Our retainer service varies from client to
client but is generally on the following basis:
 Monthly
visits
Bi-monthly visits
Quarterly visits
Depending on client preference and visit
frequency, our retainer service can cover the following:
Update on
LSC changes
Strategic advice
Office manual review/update
LSC performance monitoring e.g.
KPI
Business Plan preparation/review
File reviews
Financial records
Personnel records maintenance
Monitoring of claiming effectiveness
Central registers reviews/updates
As a retained firm you have access to unlimited
advice and support via email or telephone.
There is no obligation on you to maintain
a retainer for a specific period, there is no contract and you can
cancel at any time.
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