IF you are involved in a legal dispute it will cost you time and money – it may be a cliche, but it is true.

Lawyers are not cheap. They are, for the most part, highly qualified and intelligent individuals who are entitled to charge you for giving you the benefit of their time and expertise.

So how can you keep legal fees down to a reasonable level?

Some say it is impossible, but here are some pointers to help you get the most from your legal advisor and to use them to best effect.

Make the best use of your solicitor – his or her time is expensive, so do not waste their time and your money.

If you need to consult a solicitor, then present him or her with a neat file of the relevant papers in the correct order, together with a concise, but coherent summary of the facts.

Try not to call your solicitor out of the blue with a legal question. It is not that we do not know the answer, but without all of the proper information and documents sometimes the question itself is not entirely clear.

At best you will receive an equivocal answer from your solicitor, who would be foolish to base their advice to you on incomplete information and without hearing the full story.

Remember, if it takes your solicitor hours to wade through the pile of documents you give him, or he needs to call you or write to you several times to seek important documents that you failed to provide at your first meeting, then you may be charged for the time he spends trying to make sense of that untidy bundle of papers you gave him.

It is far better to spend your time putting the papers in order before sending them to your solicitor.

That way he or she is able to see the whole picture and will be able to advise you quickly, efficiently and, from your point of view, at a reasonable cost.

■ Tom Lisgo is a partner at BHP Law.

For more information, contact him on 0191-221-0898.