Escalate Disputes FAQs – Commonly asked questions about our commercial dispute resolution process

Escalate charges a capped fee of 30% (plus VAT) of the amount recovered, ensuring you will receive at least 70% of the damages received. Everything is included in this fee, including upfront costs such as court fees and expert witness and barrister fees, so you have complete transparency and certainty from the very start of the process. And remember that you don’t pay unless there is a successful outcome.

In contrast, we estimate that a £200,000 dispute undertaken through a traditional mechanism would incur costs of over 50% of the recovered amount*. The costs will increase further if you take out insurance to protect yourself against the defendant’s costs in the case of an unsuccessful outcome. In these circumstances, it is possible that you could end up with as little as one third of the original value of the claim under a traditional dispute resolution approach.

* Assuming a 70% recovery of damages and 50% recovery of costs from the defendant.

Unfortunately, the current system creates and allows bad business behaviour. There tends not be a strong incentive for the defendant to settle quickly in a traditional dispute resolution process; by delaying the outcome for as long as possible, they increase the chances of the claimant giving up or running out of funds. The Escalate process targets a result in less than three months by employing a team of experienced dealmakers to negotiate on your behalf.

Typically due to a combination of considerable upfront costs and legal bills which are based on the amount of time your lawyers spend on the case, accompanied with long delays (a typical case may take as long as 18 months to reach a conclusion).

Alongside these issues, there may also be significant uncertainty of the outcome of the case and the total cost of pursuing a case with an uncertain outcome can deter many businesses. Escalate directly addresses all of these issues, removing the barriers that currently prevent businesses from fighting their corner.

There are no restrictions on the types of disputes Escalate can tackle – for example bad debt, contractual, negligence, IP infringement.

Yes. We can revisit disputes that are up to three years old, enabling businesses to start to recover monies that were previously written off and providing an unexpected cash flow injection if successful.

Once a case has been officially accepted and engaged by the Escalate team, we aim to resolve the dispute within 3 months. The timetable for delivery of the Escalate process depends on the complexity of the case, but we always strive to resolve a dispute as quickly as possible.

There are three stages to delivering Escalate – Engagement, Mediation and finally, Litigation if a successful outcome at the mediation stage cannot be achieved. In most cases, the claim will never make it to court as both parties are keen to settle during the mediation phase. Our system is designed to keep the pressure on the defendant to make settlement as quick as possible, using our corporate recovery experts, rather than the case ending up in a long drawn out court battle.

Even if you can find a lawyer to act for you on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, you’ll still have to pay upfront for some costs (such as court, barrister and experts’ fees), which can total tens of thousands of pounds and are not recoverable if your case is unsuccessful. You’re also likely to have to pay some or all of the defendant’s legal fees if you lose your case, unless you take out insurance.

The traditional dispute resolution process typically takes 18 months to resolve; Escalate targets a solution in just three months. The Escalate process has brought together the professional advisers needed to resolve your dispute, and protect your financial risk in one seamless service. Escalate is unique and there is no similar service that prioritises your cash flow by focussing on a quick settlement, removing upfront costs and minimising risk.

We work with a panel of specialist law firms that are regarded as experts in the field of dispute resolution. If your existing lawyers are not on that panel, they can apply to join by contacting us.

In a traditional dispute resolution process, you’ll be liable for your own costs plus at least part of the defendant’s bills if you lose your case. Escalate removes the financial risk – you don’t pay out unless we reach a successful settlement. If your case is unsuccessful, you won’t be required to pay the defendant’s costs either because of Escalate’s adverse cost protection.

Escalate is integrated with Xero’s world-leading accounting software, through our Escalate Xero App. Simply sign in with your Xero log-in to easily view all of your overdue debts. You can then select the debts that you want to Escalate, with no upfront charges and fees only payable on successful recovery.