THE BAR COUNCIL SIGNS PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH LEGAL COST FINANCE

Legal Cost Finance (LCF) will provide an innovative product for Bar Council members that will allow barristers to offer ‘payment plan’ solutions to their clients.

The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has announced a new service partnership with Legal Cost Finance (LCF), an innovative financial boutique that provides a payment solution tailored for the legal services market. The Bar Council adds Legal Cost Finance to its list of Service Partners, which are selected on the basis of excellent service, and recommends its members to consider offering ‘payment plans’ to fund their current and future legal cases.

Within the partnership agreement, LCF provides an FCA-regulated service to arrange ‘payment plans’ for consumers of barrister services on the basis of third-party credit agreements.  This offers clients greater convenience, affordability and access to justice. In practice, LCF provides clients with the option of paying for legal services by instalments over extended periods, while ensuring lawyers enjoy full payments of their bills on time.

Dr. Yuri Rapoport, CEO and founder of LCF, commented:

“We are delighted to announce this partnership with the Bar Council. Since our company’s inception, we have focused our efforts on building a solution that is tailored for the legal services market and beneficial for both legal service providers and consumers.  This partnership is a great opportunity for us to contribute to the overall growth and development of the legal market.  We are confident that our ‘payment plan’ solution will become a useful tool for barristers, encouraging convenient and effective client relations.”

Paul Mosson, Director of Services at the Bar Council, commented:

“We are very pleased to welcome Legal Cost Finance as a Bar Council Service Partner. We believe that the service they offer will provide barristers with another valuable tool to secure work by presenting a payment solution for their clients, offering peace of mind to both the barrister and the client. This partnership further complements the Bar Council’s portfolio of services that support the financial arrangements between barristers and their clients when used in conjunction with BARCO, the Bar’s escrow account a solution that alleviates many financial concerns of the client and provides the Bar with a secure and trustworthy service to hold the client’s funds throughout the process.”

Financing is provided by UK financial institutions, all of which are licensed under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and/or the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The key benefits of LCF’s ‘payment plan’ solution for members of the Bar are:

• Ability to secure more instructions from clients by offering convenient and affordable payment solutions
• Access to a convenient billing system that helps clients settle outstanding invoices, and
• Guarantee of available funds to cover clients’ future legal costs.

Unlike ‘litigation funding’, which is limited to contentious legal cases and claims a stake in the proceeds of a case outcome, LCF provides ‘direct financing’ that is not restricted to any particular type of legal matter, is not tied to the chances of success and is available for all types of legal costs.

For barristers, LCF provides peace of mind due to guaranteed payment from clients and the assurance of income streams from future billing through BARCO (the Bar Council’s escrow account service).  LCF can also provide additional support for barristers through its cost control and dispute resolution services that pertain to the payment of barristers’ fees.