That depends.

No fee will be charged if during the initial meeting it becomes clear that there will be no follow-up, e.g because the interest does not outweigh the costs or because the chances of success of submitting a claim are minimal.

If the initial meeting leads to an assignment for advise or representation in court, the time spent will be added to the final invoice.

We also don’t want to be surprised, therefore as a rule the billing method is agreed upon in advance. That is before the assignment starts. If however the advocate or junior advocate has to act immediately, with client’s consent, the billing method can be agreed upon afterwards, but always at the earliest possible moment.

In most cases, we charge for time spent on the basis of a previously agreed hourly rate. The fee then consists of the actual time spent on a case multiplied by the agreed hourly rate. The time is registered on a timesheet. The client can always ask for an overview of the time spent.

Agreeing a fixed fee is possible in cases that qualify and in which the work is transparent and clearly defined. It is always the advocate or junior advocate who assesses if a case qualifies.

For collection of money claims the best billing method is collection via an agreed fixed percentage of the amount of money eventually collected for the client. The collected amount is always deposited on behalf of the client into one of the third-party accounts of our firm.

A combination of the mentioned billing methods is also possible.

All fees are exclusive of 10% VAT and exclusive of other costs (such as office costs, costs for requesting excerpts, certificates, bailiff costs, court registry fees, etc.).

Sewcharan & Pick does not work on a “no cure no pay” basis.

All files will remain in Sewcharan & Pick’s archives for up to ten years. You may request a copy of the file within this timeframe. There may be costs involved and you may be required to pay outstanding bills before the copies are provided to you.

Yes of course. If it’s a new case you can simply submit the case to Sewcharan & Pick. If the case is already being handled by another advocate or law firm Sewcharan & Pick will request your file to be transferred to us. Pursuant to the rules of conduct for advocates all advocates are obliged to comply with these rules.

It is difficult to indicate in advance which documents you should bring to an appointment. Sewcharan & Pick therefore recommends you bring all documents that you feel relate to your case. It is better to have too many than too few.

Please feel free to contact our office to present your specific problem/issue. It’s possible we haven’t specifically mentioned a certain service or area of law, because it’s part of another area of law or because we thought it was too specific to include on our website. In the unlikely event that we cannot be of service to you we will refer you to another appropriate discipline if possible.

Because the outcome of a case depends on various factors which are not always within the control of the (junior) advocate we are cautious about creating expectations. In each individual case we’ll assess the chances of success.

Surinamese law does not have a statutory provision obliging the court to order the losing party to pay the costs of the counterparty. However in the meantime Surinamese courts have ruled in a few cases that the costs should be paid by the counterparty. We will appeal to these judgments for the client in similar cases.

You can book an appointment by phone 597-478215 during office hours from Monday to Friday from 08:00 h to 16:00 h.

Or you can contact us via e-mail or via the electronic contact form. Of course you may visit our office at Frederik Derbystraat 13-13A in Paramaribo and book an appointment.