When people come to me to discuss a dispute, I often ask them how much they think it will cost to take the matter to court. The figure they give is almost always too low — sometimes by a factor of two or three. Understanding the true cost of litigation is one of the most important factors in deciding whether to mediate.
The visible costs
The costs of civil litigation that people tend to think about are the headline fees: solicitors’ hourly rates, court fees, and (if the case is complex) the cost of a barrister at trial. These are real and significant, but they are only part of the picture.
Solicitors’ fees are the largest item for most disputes. A solicitor in a regional firm might charge between £200 and £350 per hour. A specialist or London-based firm can be considerably more. A defended property dispute that reaches trial — with disclosure, witness statements, expert evidence, and a two or three-day hearing — will typically involve several hundred hours of solicitor time across the life of the case. At those rates, it is not difficult to arrive at a figure of £30,000 to £80,000 or more per side before a trial starts.
Court fees are significant but often underestimated. The fee to issue a claim for £100,000 is currently £5,000. Hearing fees are additional. Where a case involves an application for summary judgment, an injunction, or numerous interlocutory hearings, each attracts its own fee.
Counsel’s fees for a two or three-day trial in a property or commercial dispute in the County Court or High Court typically run from £5,000 to £15,000 or more for a junior barrister, depending on the complexity of the case and the seniority of counsel instructed.
Expert fees are unavoidable in many property disputes. A surveying expert in a boundary dispute or dilapidations claim may charge £2,000 to £8,000 for their report, plus additional fees for reviewing the other side’s evidence and attending trial. Where both sides instruct their own expert — which is common — the combined cost of expert evidence alone can be substantial.
The hidden costs
Beyond the out-of-pocket costs, there are costs that are less visible but no less real.
Management time. If one of the parties is a business or a landlord with a portfolio, the management time absorbed by litigation — attending meetings with solicitors, reviewing correspondence, dealing with disclosure, preparing witness statements — is significant. That time has a cost, even if it does not appear on a legal invoice.
Stress and distraction. Litigation is stressful. It involves extended uncertainty, adversarial correspondence, and the looming prospect of a trial. That stress affects decision-making, relationships, and wellbeing in ways that are hard to quantify but very real.
Delay. A contested case in the County Court currently takes 18 months to three years from issue to trial. During that period, the dispute is unresolved. Property cannot be sold with a clean title. Relationships cannot move on. Business cannot be transacted normally. The cost of that delay — lost opportunities, frozen assets, ongoing management time — is rarely fully counted.
Who pays if you win?
Even in litigation, winning is not the same as recovering your costs. The general rule in English civil litigation is that the losing party pays the winning party’s costs, but in practice this almost never means full recovery. Costs are assessed on the “standard basis” — which means only costs that were proportionately and reasonably incurred are allowed. Typically, a successful party recovers between 60% and 75% of their actual costs.
This means that a party who spends £50,000 on litigation and wins may recover only £30,000 to £37,500. The net position — after receiving the recovered costs and paying the shortfall — is a loss of £12,500 to £20,000 on costs alone, before the time and stress of the litigation is factored in. If there is any risk of losing, the calculation is considerably worse.
What does mediation cost instead?
A full-day mediation with me costs £1,250 plus VAT per party. A half day costs £750 plus VAT. Both include preparation and reading in. The total cost for both parties combined — for a process that has an 80%+ settlement rate and resolves the dispute on the day — is £2,500 plus VAT.
Even if mediation fails, the cost is modest in the context of what litigation will cost. And if it succeeds — as the majority of mediations do — all of those ongoing litigation costs stop immediately.
The question is not whether mediation is worth trying. It almost always is. The question is why so many parties wait until they have spent tens of thousands of pounds before they try it.