Commercial Debt Recovery Solicitors.

Commercial debt recovery are usually the byproduct of a commercial dispute or disagreement over contractual performance. Most commonly, these disputes arise where a company purchases a service, but refuses to pay the service provider as the purchasing company is unsatisfied with the product received.

It’s rarely cost-effective to engage a solicitor for claims totalling less than £10,000. For claims over £10,000, we would always advise on having legal representation.

Normally, steps in the commercial debt recovery process fall into 3 categories: pre-claim, during the claim, and post-claim. These are broken down into:

Pre-claim

• Drafting commercial agreements, contracts and service agreements
• Offering independent legal advice on existing agreements prior to taking action
• Evaluating the strength of any potential claim
• Negotiating with the other side and advising on the merits of their arguments
• Intervening and drafting pre-claim correspondence
• Drafting letters before action
• Advising on alternative dispute resolution and mediation
• Highlighting any potential payment enforcement issues
• Preparing claims for issue

Mid-claim

• Issuing the claim at court
• Drafting and proposing settlement offers
• Streamlining correspondence with the Court
• Preparing for and attending any hearings at County or High Court level
• Arranging and preparing counsel for complex claims
• Mitigation of any potential new issues

Post-claim

• Negotiating payment terms with the other party
• Enforcing payment of the outstanding debts or orders
• Preventative amendments of future contracts and agreements
• Advice on moving forward on a commercial basis

 Our commercial debt recovery team can advise on or intervene at any stage of the process.

Each case is different and costs can vary significantly depending on case complexity.

Typically costs for commercial debt recovery matters range from £1,000 for straightforward claims, to upwards of £100,000 for large contract breaches or IP disputes. All costs exclude VAT and counsel’s fees.

The first step is always to arrange an initial consultation to gauge:

• How complex your particular matter is and the agreements that have given rise to it
• How long the process may take and the associated costs
• The work that is involved, and factors that may affect your claim

In some simple cases, we may be able to offer fixed fees.

Again, this will depend on the complexity of your matter. For straightforward cases that settle after a letter before action is sent, this could be as short as 1-2 weeks.

For cases that proceed to the County or High Court, this highly depends on the court’s availability and could be anything from 6 months to 2 years from start to finish.

No, businesses cannot apply for legal aid.