Non-reserved business legal services
The contract that landed on Friday, the first employee starting in three weeks, the invoice that is ninety days late. This page sets out the six areas Buzz Legal covers, what each one costs, and the point at which a matter stops being ours and goes to RHF Solicitors instead.
Most business owners meet a lawyer for the first time after something has already gone wrong, by which point the cheap fix has become an expensive one. These are the six things we are asked for most often, with the fixed price against every job that has one. For comparison, the hourly rates commonly quoted to small businesses for this kind of work run from £200 to £350 +VAT an hour, so a £249 +VAT contract review costs about what an hour of that costs — except you know the number before you start rather than after. Where a matter is legally reserved, or already contentious when it reaches us, it goes to RHF Solicitors instead, and you are told that before you have spent anything.
A customer sends their own agreement and wants it signed by Friday, and you cannot tell whether the liability clause is normal or predatory. Send us the document and it comes back marked up, with a plain-English note of what is standard, which clauses carry real money, and the specific wording to ask for instead.
A customer's procurement form asks for your data processing agreement, or somebody has made a subject access request and your privacy policy was copied off another website years ago. You get notices that describe what your systems genuinely do, and a written record of what you hold, why, and for how long.
You have an offer accepted, a start date three weeks away, and a contract template off the internet that mentions a company pension scheme you do not have. You get a contract that fits the actual job, the written statement the law requires on day one, and the handful of policies that give you a process to follow when something goes wrong.
The invoice is ninety days past due and they have stopped answering the phone, or a supplier has failed to deliver and is blaming you for it. You get the argument triaged — what it is really about, what you can actually prove, and what a sensible outcome looks like — then a letter before action that follows the pre-action rules instead of simply annoying the other side.
Two of you started it, one now wants to go part-time or take money out, and nothing is written down about what that does to the shares. You get an agreement that settles decision-making, deadlock, dividends and what happens when someone leaves — written while everyone still agrees, which is the only point at which it is cheap.
Two ways to pay, and which one is cheaper depends on how often legal questions land on you. A defined job is a fixed fee you pay once; a business that keeps generating questions usually pays less on a monthly plan than it would on the equivalent run of one-off fees.
Here is the detail behind each heading: what sits inside the service, what sits outside it, and how long the work usually takes. Read the “what is not included” lists first — they are the honest part. Anything outside our scope is not a dead end, and it is not a refusal either. It is work that belongs with a regulated law firm, an accountant or a specialist, and we hand it over rather than stretch what we do. Reserved matters go to RHF Solicitors, regulated by the SRA (no. 324115).
The agreements your income depends on — what you sell, on what terms, and what happens when something goes wrong. We read the contracts sent to you before you sign them, and draft the ones you issue.
What is included
What is not included
How long it takes. We do not promise a turnaround on a web page. What sets it is the length of the document, how many parties are negotiating, and whether you have a fixed deadline — tell us the deadline at the outset and we will say plainly whether it is achievable before you commit.
The documents that tell customers what you do with their data, and the internal habits that make those documents true. Most small businesses have a privacy policy copied from somewhere and no idea whether it matches reality. We fix that.
What is included
What is not included
How long it takes. What sets it is complexity in the systems rather than in the drafting, so the quickest route is telling us honestly what data you hold and which tools you use.
The paperwork that decides how a disagreement with a member of staff ends. Most employment problems are settled by what was written at the start, which is why the documents matter more than the argument.
What is included
What is not included
How long it takes. A contract or a single policy is quick. A full handbook takes longer, because it is a stack of policies working together rather than one document, though far less time than most owners expect. Where a handbook has to fit unusual working patterns or sector rules, we often put a usable core in place first and refine the edges after.
The stage before anything becomes a court case, which is where most disputes are actually won or lost. Getting organised early is usually cheaper than being right later.
What is included
What is not included
How long it takes. What sets it is how quickly you can get us the paperwork; what follows depends entirely on the other side, and we will say plainly at the outset if we think a matter is heading for court rather than a settlement.
The documents that decide what happens when the people who own a business stop agreeing. They are cheap to put in place while everyone is getting on and expensive to argue about afterwards.
What is included
What is not included
How long it takes. The drafting is rarely the slow part. The timescale is usually set by how long the shareholders take to agree what they want, which is the conversation the document forces you to have.
Two illustrative examples of how a typical job moves from first email to finished work. They are made-up scenarios written to show the process, not real clients.
An agency is about to take on its largest customer to date. The customer sends its own supplier agreement and wants it signed by the end of the week. The agency owner reads it, does not like the feel of the liability section, and cannot tell whether the rest is normal.
They send the full document, say when the deadline is, and name the two clauses worrying them. We come back with a marked-up copy and a short summary in plain English: which clauses are standard and can be signed, which two carry real risk, and the specific wording to ask for instead. We also flag something they had not spotted — an automatic renewal that would lock them in for another year unless they give notice in a narrow window.
The owner sends the requested changes to the customer, most are accepted, and the contract is signed on time. Total elapsed time: a few days. What made it fast was sending the real document, stating the deadline honestly, and answering the follow-up questions in one go.
What would have changed the answer: if the customer had already threatened to sue over an earlier project, this stops being a contract review and becomes a contentious matter. We would have said so on day one and routed it to RHF Solicitors.
A consultant who has always used contractors decides to hire an employee. They have an offer accepted and a start date three weeks away, and a template contract downloaded from the internet that mentions a company pension scheme they do not have.
We start with what the job actually is: hours, place of work, notice, probation, what the person will see and who they might take with them if they leave. From that we produce a contract that fits, a written statement of particulars covering what the law requires on day one, and a short set of policies — holiday, sickness, disciplinary and grievance — so there is a process to follow if something goes wrong.
We also correct two things in the downloaded template: a restrictive covenant so wide it would almost certainly be unenforceable, and a probation clause that gave less notice than the statutory minimum.
Where it would move to a solicitor: nowhere in this example. Drafting employment documents is non-reserved work. If the same business later dismissed that employee and faced a tribunal claim, the claim would go to RHF Solicitors while the documents we wrote do the job they were written for.
Describe what has landed, name any date that is already running, and say in one sentence what you want to happen. We will ask for the document itself when we come back to you.
You get three things in writing before anything begins: whether this is work Buzz Legal can do or work that needs a regulated firm, who will be doing it and under whose regulation, and one fixed price with the scope it covers.
Drafting, review or dispute preparation, delivered with a plain-English explanation of what each document does and how to use it. Nothing outside the agreed scope is done without a fresh quote you have approved.
For everyday, non-reserved business legal work, yes — contracts, terms, employment documents, handbooks, privacy notices, shareholder agreements, debt chasing and dispute preparation are handled by Buzz Legal directly. For reserved work, no, and it is not a matter of preference: conducting litigation, court advocacy, most conveyancing, probate, notarial work and administering oaths can only lawfully be done by an authorised firm. Those go to RHF Solicitors, regulated by the SRA (no. 324115). The honest way to think about it is that a solicitor is required for a narrow set of activities and optional for a wide one, and we cover the wide one at a fraction of the cost.
Fixed-fee work has published starting prices: contract review from £249 +VAT, terms and conditions from £695 +VAT, employment starter pack from £895 +VAT, shareholder agreement from £1,250 +VAT, and HR policies with a staff handbook from £1,495 +VAT. Ongoing cover is £49, £249 or £499 +VAT a month depending on the plan. You get one fixed price for your job, in writing, before anything starts, and if something genuinely falls outside the agreed scope we stop and re-quote rather than carry on and bill you for it. For comparison, the hourly rates commonly quoted to small businesses for this kind of work run from £200 to £350 +VAT an hour.
Reserved activities, which go to RHF Solicitors. Anything already contentious when it arrives — if the other side has instructed solicitors or threatened a claim, a contract review is not what you need. Employment tribunal claims, ICO investigations, insolvency, conveyancing and property, immigration, criminal and personal matters. Formal company valuations and tax advice on share structures, which sit with an accountant or a tax specialist. Acting for an employee where we already act for the employer. Acting as your appointed Data Protection Officer. Security or penetration testing. Turning work away is part of doing this honestly, and the scope sections above set out where each service stops.
It stops being non-reserved work and moves to RHF Solicitors (SRA no. 324115). The line is contentiousness rather than seriousness: a heated negotiation is still ours, a threatened claim is not. We handle the stage before proceedings, which is where a great many disputes are actually settled — working out what you can prove, building the chronology, drafting a letter before action that follows pre-action conduct, and negotiating. Many matters end there. Where one has to escalate, the file goes to RHF with the evidence already assembled, so the regulated work starts from a prepared position. If a matter looks court-bound the day it lands, you hear that on day one.
Either. A fixed fee suits a defined job — one contract reviewed, one set of terms drafted, one handbook built — and you pay once. A subscription suits a business that keeps generating legal questions: £49 +VAT a month for the template library, a legal health check and questions on a fair-use basis, or £249 +VAT a month once you want human contract reviews and a monthly allowance of matters. A rough test: if you are asking legal questions more than a few times a year, the subscription usually costs less than the equivalent fixed fees. If it is one contract and then nothing for a year, pay the fixed fee.
Non-reserved work is done by the Buzz Legal team. Reserved legal work is done by Robert Festenstein, a solicitor at RHF Solicitors, which is authorised and regulated by the SRA (no. 324115) — and when he does it, he does so as a solicitor at that regulated firm rather than as part of Buzz Legal Ltd. You are told which of the two is handling your matter before anything starts, in writing, alongside the scope and the price. Our About page sets out the regulatory position in full, including the protections you do and do not have. If you would rather a solicitor handled the whole thing from the start, say so and we will arrange it.
We will not put a turnaround on a web page, because it would be a guess about your document. What sets it is the length and complexity of what you send, how many parties are negotiating, and the deadline you are working to. A staff handbook takes longer, because it is a stack of policies working together rather than one document. The slow part is almost never the drafting; it is waiting on answers about how your business actually operates. You get the expected timescale in writing before anything starts, and we tell you early rather than late if something is going to slip.
The guides and articles on this site are general legal information rather than advice on your situation — they cannot be advice, because they do not know your facts. Advice comes once you engage us and we have the documents. Everything you send is handled under UK GDPR: enquiries are kept for up to 12 months, client files for typically six years after the relationship ends, and data is shared only where there is a real reason, such as handing a reserved matter to RHF Solicitors. Legal professional privilege is a separate question from confidentiality and is not something we can assume applies to advice that does not come from a qualified lawyer, so raise it at the outset if it matters.
Clear scope · fixed fees available. Buzz Legal Ltd is not a firm of solicitors and is not regulated by the SRA.