An ET1 has arrived, or ACAS has been in touch, and you have less time than you think. Tribunal work is not reserved to solicitors, which is why we can do it at a fixed fee.
A response is due within 28 days of the date the tribunal sent you the claim. Miss it and a judgment can be issued without a hearing, leaving you arguing only about remedy, with liability already decided.
So if an ET1 has landed, deal with the date before you deal with the merits. Tell us the date it was sent and what has been claimed, using the form at the top of the page, and the response comes first.
A claim has not yet been issued, and you are at the cheapest point the dispute will reach. Many disputes settle here for a fraction of the cost of defending, and settling is not an admission. It is also the moment to work out whether you would win.
You do not need a solicitor to defend a claim, and many respondents are represented by consultants and in-house teams. What you need is someone who will read the file and give you a clear view of it early, because many of the expensive mistakes in tribunal work are made in the first fortnight.
ACAS tells you a claim is being considered. It is normally a required step before a claim can be presented, and it starts a clock.
A read of the file, whether to engage, and on what basis.
The tribunal sends you the employee’s claim. The 28 days run from the date it was sent.
An early, plain read of where you stand. The clear version, with the weak points in it.
Due within 28 days. It frames the whole case, and is often rushed.
The ET3 and grounds of resistance.
The tribunal sets directions and the timetable to the hearing.
Directions, the schedule of loss and disclosure.
Evidence is put in order for the hearing.
Witness statements and the bundle.
The tribunal hears the claim.
Depends on the claim. If it needs a barrister or a regulated firm, it goes to AD Solicitors with the file built.
Tribunal work has no single published number, because claims differ too much for one figure to fit them all. Each stage gets its own scope and its own fixed fee, agreed in writing before anything starts. Nothing is chargeable until you approve it.
The file read, where you stand, ACAS, and whether settling makes sense now.
The ET3 and grounds of resistance, due within the 28 days.
Case management, the schedule of loss, disclosure, witness statements and the bundle.
Each stage: a fixed fee agreed in writing before anything starts.
Tribunal costs orders are unusual. Winning generally does not get your costs back, so the cost of defending is a real cost whatever the outcome, and it belongs in the decision about whether to settle. We raise it early.
Tribunal work is not reserved by law to an authorised firm, so it is work we can do.
Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
You are told which yours is at the scoping stage, before you have spent anything.
Work carried out by AD Solicitors carries the full SRA framework, including the compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman. Work we carry out ourselves does not. Buzz Legal handles contracts, terms of trade, employment paperwork and dispute preparation; court work, and the other activities reserved by law, are carried out by AD Solicitors. How this works, in full. This is information, not advice on your situation.
Most claims we see trace back to something missing, not something done wrongly.
No written statement of terms
A handbook staff had never read
A dismissal run without a process
A settlement agreement drafted from a template
Those are the documents Buzz Legal exists for, at published fixed fees: the employment starter pack from £895 +VAT, and HR policies and a staff handbook from £1,495 +VAT. For employers who want this covered all year, there is a standing HR line on subscription. See all fixed-fee work.
Rights of audience in the employment tribunal are not restricted the way they are in the courts, so representation there is not a reserved legal activity. Whether we are the right people for a particular final hearing is a separate question and depends on the claim. When a case needs a barrister or a regulated firm, you are told at the start, and that work goes to AD Solicitors (SRA no. 8011228).
That a prospective claimant has started the process. Early conciliation is normally a required step before a claim can be presented, and it is an opportunity — many disputes settle there at a fraction of what defending a claim costs. It also starts a clock. Do not ignore it.
A response is due within 28 days of the date the claim was sent to you by the tribunal. Missing it is serious: a judgment can be issued without a hearing. If a claim form has landed, that is the same-day priority, ahead of working out the merits.
A fixed fee agreed in writing before anything starts, scoped to the stage — reviewing the claim and advising, preparing the response, or running the matter through to hearing. We do not quote a single published number for tribunal work because claims differ too much for one figure to fit them all.
Buzz Legal is a business legal services company, and is not a firm of solicitors. Tribunal work is not reserved by law to an authorised firm, so it is work we can do. Work carried out by AD Solicitors carries the full SRA framework, including the compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman. Work we carry out ourselves does not. Anything that has to go to a court, as opposed to a tribunal, goes to AD Solicitors, SRA no. 8011228.
A claim form has landed, or you think one is coming. Say what stage you are at and any date that is already running — that is what decides how quickly this needs to move. See the privacy policy for how we use your details.
Tell us what has happened and what you want to happen about it. We will come back with what the job involves, who carries it out and what it costs, in writing, before you commit to anything.
