Fees

What is charged, and what is not.

Standards of Billing

Time is charged for substantive legal work, and for nothing else. The standard rate is AED 1,800 per hour, plus disbursements at cost. Fixed fees, capped fees, success fees and retainers are agreed in writing where the matter requires them, though we prefer the hourly standard: the discipline that governs it does for the client what a fee cap is designed to do. We do not convert non-billable work into billable work by changing the description of a time entry.

§

On time-sheet wording

Non-chargeable work can be made to read as chargeable. We do not. The substance of the work decides what is billable; the description in a time entry does not.

What occurred Unacceptable billing approach Our treatment
A first meeting with a prospective client about a possible matter.
Initial matter consultation.
Non-billable.
Routine conflict check, KYC intake and engagement setup.
Compliance review.
Non-billable.
Two lawyers discuss internally who should handle the matter.
Matter strategy.
Non-billable.
Calendaring, meeting invites, room bookings and routine scheduling.
Client coordination.
Non-billable.
Downloading, sorting, indexing, saving and uploading documents to the firm's system.
Document review.
Non-billable.
Time entered as ‘strategy’ without identifying an issue, decision or output.
Matter strategy.
Non-billable.
Three internal attendees join a client call; two contribute nothing.
Team conference.
Written down to the value added.
A junior reads the practice area broadly to come up to speed.
Legal research.
Non-billable.
Time spent waiting outside a courtroom, registry or counterpart's office.
Hearing attendance.
Split from attendance.
Weeks pass before work on the file resumes; the file must be re-read.
Document review.
Written down or off.
Intensive work performed because the firm previously delayed or mismanaged the matter.
Urgent matter work.
Non-billable.
A senior corrects typos, formatting and citation errors carried over from earlier drafts.
Final review.
Non-billable.
A senior reviews a junior's draft primarily for the junior's development.
Quality review.
Non-billable.
A single long entry covering multiple unrelated activities — billable and non-billable blended together.
Matter work — full day.
Split into discrete tasks.
Portal uploads, registry emails, courier coordination and payment of filing fees.
Court application work.
Split: legal portion only.
Communications chasing an unpaid invoice with the client's finance team.
Client correspondence.
Non-billable.

Authorities cited: UAE Code of Ethics for the Legal Profession and Legal Consultation Profession (Cabinet Resolution No. 9 of 2025); American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct; Solicitors Regulation Authority Code of Conduct for Solicitors (England & Wales); ADGM Practice Direction 9 — Costs; DIFC Courts Registrar's Direction No. 1 of 2023; LEDES legal e-billing standards and UTBMS coding; UAE AML Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025.

Recorded time is reviewed before any bill is issued. Entries that should not be charged are written off internally, before the invoice is sent.

§

Charged, and not charged

At our standard hourly rate.

Charged

  • —Drafting of pleadings, submissions, advice and contracts
  • —Legal and factual analysis, and matter-specific research
  • —Substantive meetings and calls — with the client, co-counsel, experts and foreign counsel
  • —Hearings, preparation and post-hearing work
  • —Correspondence with parties, courts and authorities
  • —Examination of evidence and case documents

Not charged

  • —First calls, pitches, fee quotations, engagement-letter drafting and related formalities
  • —Standard onboarding, routine KYC and conflict checks
  • —Internal handovers and staffing changes
  • —Calls with the client not on substance
  • —Additional attendees on calls and meetings without a distinct role
  • —Routine status updates and reporting
  • —Translations and coordination
  • —Re-reads of documents already examined
  • —Our own typographical, formatting and citation errors as drafts undergo revisions
  • —Senior review conducted for development purposes
  • —Reading and training not tied to a specific matter
  • —Time on firm-side templates and internal know-how
  • —Invoicing, time-sheet review and payment chasing

Illustration. Client updates fall on either side of this ledger. We keep clients informed about material developments, outcomes, risks, costs and next steps, but a communication is not billable merely because it is described as an “update.” It is chargeable only where it carries substantive advice, analysis, legal consequences, risk assessment, procedural guidance, decisions or recommended next steps. Where it contains both, the time is split before billing.

§

Rates, in context

For comparison, the DIFC Courts' Registrar's Direction No. 1 of 2023 records the following indicative hourly rates for lawyer costs assessment in the DIFC Courts:

Trainee · lawyer up to 5 years AED 2,391 −25%
Lawyer · 6 to 10 years AED 2,972 −39%
Lawyer · more than 10 years AED 3,298 −45%
Partner AED 3,746 −52%
—Onyx AED 1,800 —

Indicative DIFC Courts hourly rates for costs assessment (Registrar's Direction No. 1 of 2023); ADGM Practice Direction 9 reports a similar range across grades. Neither sets nor approves our fees, and they do not mean recoverability from any party.

← Return to the firm