Posted By Adrian_Suarez I have been proposed as an expert to review and provided a report in relation to a possible court case. Is there a standard fee for this type of work since they have asked me for an estimate. Any advice will be appreciated.

Posted By George Wedgwood You presumably have a consultancy rate for such work - if not, you need to evaluate your worth in terms of a price per hour or day devoted to doing the work. Then try and estimate how long such a report might take and stress that the price is based on estimated time, to allow for changes, additions and reviews if the client demands it. You know how long it takes to prepare a guidance document or similar and presumably you understand the work well, so you can make a stab at estimating the prep time, research time, editing time, to arrive at some kind of price, based on a day rate. I did something similar and even charged for answering emails as it was a lawyer and he did the same! So the eventual bill was quite different from the estimate. The client eventually gets it all added to the costs and it will be factored in the final settlement. Be careful to record accurately, your time on it to support your account and always check back on any increase in time. A fair price for a professional report would be £300 per day, depending on certain laywers limits etc., and you should be able to draft a fairly simple report with all the facts in 3 days, making £900 in total - cheap at the price! Hold out for more if possible but ask for any limits first - get £450 if you can. remember that you may be supplied with material to read as part of the work and add that time in too. If you are working for a laywer, note that they are notoriously late payers!

Posted By Robert K Lewis I would always go in at an hourly rate and carefully record the time. As to the actual figure per hour - this will depend on a number of factors that include such as the type and status of the client- blue chip clients tend to pay and expect higher rates, your qualifications and experience - CFIOSH may indicate higher fees than CMIOSH, whether you are wishing to establish a relationship. If the solicitor is charging out at say £160-180 per hour, typical for a partner in a rural practice, you need, as a chartered individual of status and experience, to be pitching around this level, as his rate increases so should yours. Remember also that you need to add printing costs and travel mileage allowance as extras to the fees chargeable rates. Bob