Direct Access · Public Access
Senior counsel, one fixed fee.
No chain. No mark-up.
One defined piece of work, one defined price — agreed before anything begins.
A clear, fixed price for a defined piece of work — drafted by the barrister who would argue it if it ever failed. Agreed before any work begins, with no hourly clock and no solicitor in the middle. Where a matter is straightforward, you will be told so.
The fees below are fixed prices for drafting each document, agreed in writing before work begins — a single fixed fee for the whole piece of work, never an open-ended hourly meter. They reflect work carried out personally by senior counsel — not delegated to a junior or routed through a solicitor.
Each figure is an indicative fixed fee for a standard document of its kind, exclusive of VAT and of any third-party disbursements (for example Land Registry or Office of the Public Guardian fees). Your written quote is given on the facts of your matter and may be lower; genuinely complex work is priced after your free Initial View.
Most people don't want a will. They want the whole thing handled.
So the estate work is offered as a plan, not a document order — your trust, wills, LPAs and letters of wishes prepared together in one engagement, explained in plain English, and signed in a single conference. Every document can still be instructed on its own, in the list below. Most clients find a plan better value.
For a homeowning couple who want it settled properly, once.
- ·A lifetime property trust
- ·Mirror wills (individually £1,500)
- ·All four LPAs (individually £2,800)
- ·Letters of wishes & registration guidance
- ·A signing conference
For estates that need more than the standard structure.
- ·Everything in the Family Estate Plan
- ·Complex or discretionary trust structuring where your estate needs it
- ·A business property relief will where relevant
- ·A family review in the first year
- ·A written Opinion of Counsel on the structure
Where a family investment company is the right route, this plan covers the planning and the recommendation. If a company is then required, forming it is an additional piece of work — but discounted 40% to reflect the planning already done here: from £9,000, against a standard FIC price from £15,000.
For owner-directors whose company is the biggest asset.
- ·Business property relief wills for a couple
- ·Four LPAs, including business LPAs
- ·Review of your shareholders' agreement's death & incapacity provisions and cross-option arrangements
- ·A letter of wishes
A word on care fees. No lawful plan can guarantee your home is disregarded in a care assessment — the deliberate-deprivation rules mean any promise of “care-fee protection” is usually worthless, and I will not make one. A trust does other real things: it can protect children of an earlier marriage, keep matters private, and speed administration. I will tell you plainly what it can and cannot do for you.
Every document, individually
Every document below can be instructed on its own at the listed fee. Most clients find the plans above better value.
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Four seats. A general counsel without the salary.
A monthly retainer reserves a block of my time each month — for contracts, employment questions, a dispute brewing, or simply a senior second opinion on the desk when you need one. The more you reserve, the lower the effective rate. Every seat includes your annual Legal MOT, priority diary access, and one hearing or advocacy day a year within your reserved hours. How unused time is treated is set out in your engagement letter.
For a smaller business with steady, occasional needs.
For a growing business with regular legal questions.
For a business that leans on counsel most weeks.
Retainers are billed monthly in advance and agreed for a minimum term in the engagement letter. They suit ongoing needs; one-off pieces of work are better taken as a fixed fee.
A once-a-year review of the standard set — terms of trade, up to eight core contracts, the ownership and key-people documents, IP and exposure — with a written report ranked by what to fix first. Renews at £1,000 once the business is known — or renew with year-round access (the MOT plus four scheduled calls across the year and first claim on my diary) for £2,750. Larger or multi-entity document estates are quoted as MOT+ (from £2,500), so the health-check never quietly becomes a full contract-review exercise.
Where work falls outside a fixed fee or a retainer — extended advice, negotiation, the ongoing conduct of an unpredictable matter — it is charged at an indicative £400 per hour + VAT. The rate is indicative and varies with the type and complexity of the case, and I do not bill in six-minute units. Time is usually payable up front; where the hours needed are unpredictable by their nature, they may occasionally be charged as they are incurred. Always agreed in writing before work begins.
Every figure here is a single fixed fee for the whole piece of work — not an open-ended hourly meter — so you can quote a price to your client in your own meeting. See how counsel in the room works when you keep the client and bring a barrister in.
Indicative fees and timescales for specified work
For certain types of public access work the Bar Standards Board requires barristers to publish indicative fees, the circumstances in which they may vary, and indicative timescales. The areas below are the specified services that Barraj Legal undertakes. Every matter is quoted individually in writing before work begins; the figures are indicative and exclusive of VAT and disbursements.
Your rights
Barraj Legal is regulated by the Bar Standards Board. You may ask for a quotation at any time, and for this information in an alternative format. If something goes wrong you may complain to the practice, and you may have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman; the practice's complaints procedure sets out how and the time limits that apply. You can check a barrister's status on the Barristers' Register, and read the BSB's Public Access Guidance for Lay Clients, both on the BSB website.
Barraj Legal is a trading style of Rhys Johns, a barrister authorised and regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Authorised to conduct litigation. Direct Access (Public Access) instructions accepted. Fees are indicative, exclusive of VAT and disbursements, and superseded by the written quote for your matter. Current at June 2026.
One conversation tells you where you stand.
A short, no-obligation first conversation — and the basis for a written fixed-fee quote within 24 hours. No commitment, no clock running.
info@barraj.co.uk · 029 2264 4149
Sophia House, 28 Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF11 9LJ