Sorry put papers in the bin as soon as I got home, had enough of the whole thing. It was an egg credit card agreement signed in April 2003. Just read pt2537's response, thank you for correction. In relation to costs I paid £690 plus VAT to the barrister for the trial (fixed by court), included a brief telephone advice and skeleton argument as well. I contacted various solicitor's they wanted at least £500 on account, then said they would instruct a barrister to do trial, presumably I would have paid the £690 on top of that. I thought that the barrister option was good value for money. I had to sign an agreement before hand which limited his costs to the £690 plus VAT.

An egg card and ppi. He argued that it did not contain the prescribed terms and did not comply with multiple agreement provisions. Judge accepted first but not second. PPI had been paid back already so did not matter.

I think a barrister is a specialist in his area whereas a solicitor deals with general matters. A solicitor if he does not know the answer will refer to a barrister. A barrister (I think) is the only one that can appear in court. I did a google search of "public access barrister", and I used 5 Pump Court who were quite high up. The barrister I used specialised in consumer credit. I am in no way an expert on what a solicitor or barrister does, a friend of mine told me about this scheme when I mentioned I was being sued by egg. I sent my papers to the barrister, and he gave me advice represented me in court and we won. Because we won, egg had to pay my costs !!!!!!! It took all the stress out of it, he did all the talking and the Judge took my case seriously, as opposed to when I was representing myself at the management hearings where the Judge thought I was trying it on.

Sorry. Me being stupid. The barrister that I instructed said that he would travel all over the place. My case was in Sheffield and they are based in London.

I found them on the web. Have a look at their web-site. I was told my case was a consumer credit case, and they handled that.

I have recently won a case with the help of a barrister instructed under the direct access scheme from 5 Pump Court. It was a fast track case and his fee was fixed at £690 because it was above £5,000.

£690 for the hearing, which include the preparation of the skeleton argument, and a short telephone advice. This was recovered from the other side as they lost. I phoned the clerk. Don't have number to hand but I found them on a google search, If you type "5 Pump Court" you should find them.

There was an issue about multiple agreement aswell, he relied on a case called Heath v Southern Pacific Mortgages. Hope this helps.

Just reading through your thread. Have you thought of instructing a barrister on the new direct access scheme, you don't have to use a solicitor and therefore it is cheaper. I instructed a guy from 5 Pump Court, he got my egg agreement set aside saving me £6,000 It was on the fast track and the Judge took me a lot more seriously.

Have you considered using a barrister on the new direct access scheme. You can instruct a barrister directly without using a solicitor. I instructed a guy from 5 Pump Court. He argued successfully that my executed agreement did not contain the prescribed terms, and the court set it aside. He saved me about £6,000 in debt and legal fees. His fee was restricted because it was on the fast track.