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Welcome from Lucy Scott-Moncrieff CBE
I co-founded ScoMo, as we affectionately call the Firm, over 30 years ago and today I am proud that the team is bigger and stronger than ever. We attract lawyers who are recognised leaders in their field and our management and admin structure ensures they can perform at the top of their game.
Not only is our team stronger, the range of services for people and businesses we offer has expanded, with employment and company commercial work being the current growth areas.
With all this progress, one thing has remained constant: ScoMo’s commitment to delivering high quality legal services at an affordable cost. This underpins our firmly-held ethos and is reflected in our continued pioneering of Legal Aid matters, public law and working for people who require dependable, reliable advice.
Legal Services
Scott-Moncrieff offers legal advice throughout England and Wales, through face-to-face contact or online, via Skype or by phone. We advise people, companies and other organisations on a full range of legal issues, bringing the full weight of expert teams of specialists to supporting and advising our clients.
Funding
At ScoMo we know that funding is a key issue. It’s why we maintain our commitment to Legal Aid cases. For a whole range of legal services the firm endeavours to find an appropriate method of financing the advice and help that you need. This includes working to a strict, agreed budget; on a no win no fee basis; legal expenses insurance; or Legal Aid.
ScoMo never charges clients until the funding arrangement has been agreed and the way forward approved.
And, of course, we offer a free no obligation initial consultation.
Fee Information for Selected Services
Scott-Moncrieff aims to provide high level legal services at an affordable rate. Every case is unique and legal costs vary depending on the nature and complexity of the matter. Below are a range of hourly rates for the specific types of work listed.
- Probate (uncontested cases with all assets in the UK): £250 - £410 per hour (+VAT) and disbursements along with a percentage of between 0.75% and 1%.
- Employment tribunals (claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal): £250 - £410 per hour (+VAT) and disbursements.
- Debt recovery (up to £100,000): £250 - £410 per hour (+VAT) and disbursements.
Please contact us if you would like more information on legal costs for your case.
Quality of Service
Some time ago ScoMo achieved the Lexcel accreditation, which is awarded only to those firms that can demonstrate a genuine and full commitment to the highest practice management standards as overseen and audited annually by the Law Society.
We have stringent quality controls, but if - for any reason - you are unhappy with the service you have received, please let us know. We’ll work with you to find a way forward.
About our Founder & Managing Director - Lucy Scott-Moncrieff
Lucy is the managing director of the firm. She set it up in 1987, after the birth of her first child, as she wanted the flexibility of self-employment to combine work with motherhood. At that time, she was starting to specialise in mental health and human rights law, and for several years the firm expanded gently into other areas of social welfare law as word of mouth spread about the freedoms and benefits of working for a virtual law firm.
In recent years, Lucy has spoken and written widely on the benefits of this way of working, and the firm now covers private client and commercial work. As its growth has been incremental, Lucy has been able to ensure that the guiding principles of excellence in client service and friendliness within the firm have been maintained.
Lucy has not only built her firm, but has also built her reputation as a mental health and human rights lawyer, and as a promoter and supporter of the profession and its values.
She has been a Law Society Council member since 2002, was Law Society President during the 2012/13 term and is now Chair of its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Lucy was the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards from 2016-2021. She is the Co-Chair of the Legal Aid and Access to Justice Committee of the International Bar Association, was also a commissioner with the Judicial Appointments Committee and, as well as being a Tribunal Judge, she also sits as a Judge for the Court of Protection.
She is a member of the Bach Commission on Access to Justice.
Lucy has been an Act Commissioner, was a founder member of the QC Appointments Panel, was a commissioner with Postcomm from 2008 to 2011, and is an associate with Verita, which carries out investigations on behalf of public bodies.
Many of her cases, taken by way of judicial review, including those before the ECtHR, have been reported over the years. One of her clients was the first person to obtain a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. The resulting remedial order altered the discharge criteria affecting all those detained under the Act.
Over Thirty years of Scott-Moncrieff & Associates
I set up my own practice 30 years ago, after the birth of my older son, and just as he has grown to a strapping 6’4”, scomo has grown from its beginnings as a mental health law firm to one that now covers many areas of law, for people in many different circumstances; and as it has grown and evolved it has created a way of working that more and more solicitors are now adopting.
The reputation of a law firm rests on the quality of its lawyers and systems, and I am very proud to have such excellent colleagues, some of them recognised as leaders in their fields, and all of them dedicated to providing the best possible service to their clients. We attract independent-minded lawyers, some of who handle ground-breaking cases and who are recognised by their peers and the media as being among the best of the best. We are all able and willing to stand up for our clients when the going gets tough, as evidenced by our pioneering casework on behalf of vulnerable clients challenging the power of the State. We are user-friendly, and approachable.
The way the firm is organised means that our lawyers can devote themselves to their clients, rather than to the needs of the firm, so that every client, whatever their circumstances and wherever they are in the country, gets a personal service from their solicitor. Whether you are a private client seeking public law guidance, or a local business involved in litigation, you will always be looked after by a highly-experienced lawyer and will always receive the highest level of service.
The other source of pride for me is that we have created something new in how we work. We are a virtual, or dispersed firm, and I believe we were the first in the world to work like this: I have spoken about how we work to lawyers all over the world, and no-one has ever said that they knew of anyone who had done anything like it before.
A huge advantage of our structure is that our lawyers are in charge of their own careers. I am very interested in equality and diversity in law firms, and our way of working is one in which everyone can flourish, including people with caring responsibilities and those who want to pursue other interests alongside legal practice.
We have created a fresh approach to the law, enabling lawyers to work in a way that best suits their talents and in a way that ensures they remain close to their clients. These advantages are being recognised more and more by other firms, who are adopting aspects of what we started 30 years ago.
But we have no sense of complacency; of ‘job done’. Clients’ expectations are constantly evolving, as are the tools that we can use to serve them, and our ethos of continuous change in delivery and continued commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards means that we will be keeping busy for the next 30 years and more.
