Carl Fender
Head of CivilAn invaluable blend of clear advice, strong negotiating skills and incisive advocacy across a varied practice including employment, family, housing and property, and personal injury.
Carl Fender has a multi-disciplinary practice focusing on financial remedy work, inheritance and wills and trust disputes, employment disputes, and property, landlord & tenant and personal injury cases. He is appreciated for his clear practical advice, robust negotiation skills, and strong advocacy. His practice is a healthy balance of court and written work, advising and drafting when requested.
In addition to standard financial remedy cases, Carl is often instructed to advise and act in cases which have difficult practical and ethical issues for solicitors and clients. He has also dealt with cases involving clients with significant assets.
Carl offers Public Access for employment tribunal cases, financial disputes arising out of divorce, and Inheritance Act advices. You can find out about timescales and fees for his Public Access work in the ‘Transparency’ tab above.
Practice Areas
- Tribunal work – all aspects, including unfair and wrongful dismissal, discrimination, TUPE, whistleblowing, pay claims and breach of restrictive covenant cases.
- Matrimonial finance – all aspects of financial remedy work, including cases involving business interests and trusts as well as set-aside applications and injunctions.
- TOLATA – extensive experience involving cases with cross-over issues such as partnership law, business interests and Inheritance Act matters. His trust work has also involved proprietary estoppel and fiduciary duties.
- Probate matters – he has dealt with contentious issues including claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; fraud committed by trustees and executors; will disputes; and claims in respect of undue influence.
- Professional negligence cases – arising out of the Inheritance Act, wills and trusts, TOLATA and financial remedies.
- Personal injury – regularly instruction in matters including credit hire, acting for claimants or defendants in equal measure.
- Property law – including boundary disputes, adverse possession, easements and restrictive covenants, plus local authority instruction regarding highway boundary issues, and landlord/tenant matters concerning possession and forfeiture, breach of repair covenants and tenant harassment cases.
- Ecclesiastical law – a member of the General Synod, Carl has experience in church law. He is involved with the legislative process at Church House (administrative seat of the Church of England). He includes clergy discipline matters as part of his professional practice.
How much will Carl’s services cost?
Carl Fender mostly works on a fixed-fee basis, although this depends on the type of work you request. Certain types of work may require an hourly rate basis, but this is far less common and will be discussed with you before any work commences. If you’d like a quotation for his legal services in a particular matter, please contact our clerk using the details below and we’ll be very happy to help. Please also refer to Bank House Chambers’ standard terms & conditions.
What might influence the timescales of the services Carl offers?
Despite our best intentions, we can’t always control timescales or the amount of time we spend on a case. These can be affected by factors such as urgency; complexity; your own (or your client’s) availability; Carl’s availability and that of any third parties; the volume of documents Carl needs to review or must request; and the court’s availability.
Can you have confidence in Carl’s work?
He is regulated by the Bar Standards Board.
How can you contact Carl Fender?
In the first instance, please contact our senior clerk, Wayne Digby, on 0114 275 1223 or email him at w.digby@bankhousechambers.co.uk.
Public Access Work
Can you contact Carl without going through a solicitor first?
Yes, he’s qualified and registered to offer services under the Bar Council’s Public Access scheme. You can find out more about our own Public Access work, and for more about the scheme in general please refer to the Bar Standards Board’s Public Access guidance for the public.
Carl provides Public Access services in matters including:
- Employment Tribunal cases (advice and representation for employers and employees)
- Financial disputes arising out of divorce
- Inheritance Act advices.
Public Access fees
For Public Access cases, Carl works on a fixed-fee basis. The sort of fees you might pay are shown below, but they can vary. This can be for a range of reasons, but commonly might include the complexity and urgency of the matter, additional hearings, the need to instruct one or more expert witnesses, a change in the nature of the case, new issues emerging, and travel costs if the case is moved (by the court or tribunal to a new venue). To discuss costs or to obtain a quotation, please contact our clerk using the details above.
Public Access – Employment
Carl Fender can advise both employees and employers on ordinary unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims, and can provide representation for either side at the Employment Tribunal.
Timescales – Timescales for your case may vary, as explained above. As a guide, more straightforward cases tend to be heard 4 to 6 months after the claim was made.
Fees – Carl’s fixed-fee basis means you will be charged a pre-determined amount of money for the services provided. The table below shows indicative price ranges, reflecting the complexity of the case. Please note that these are estimates and not quotations, and that VAT will be added at 20%.
Estimated range of fixed fees based on stage of case
Written advice on your claim
£500–£1,000
Preparation of your case, including meetings with you and assistance with drafting of any tribunal documents
£500–£1,000
Preliminary hearing
£750–£1,250
First day’s tribunal appearance
£1,500–£2,500
Tribunal appearances per day, after the first day
£750–£1,000
Remedy hearing to decide compensation
£750–£1,250
Public Access – Financial disputes arising out of divorce
Carl Fender can advise you if you or your partner cannot agree on financial matters during or after a divorce. For example, you may not be able to agree on how assets should be divided, whether to sell your home or other assets, or about maintenance payments or pension-sharing.
Timescales – Timescales for your case may vary, as explained above, and also because of the values of property involved and what may already have been agreed with your partner. As a guide, cases tend to a reach a conclusion within 6 to 12 months.
Fees – Carl’s fixed-fee basis means you will be charged a pre-determined amount of money for the services provided. The table below shows indicative price ranges based on parties holding joint assets worth less than £300,000 (please contact our clerk if your joint assets exceed this sum). The range will be down to the complexity of the case. Please note that these are estimates and not quotations, and that VAT will be added at 20%.
Estimated range of fixed fees based on stage of case
Written advice on your financial dispute
£500–£1,000
Preparation of your case, including meetings with you and assistance with drafting of any tribunal documents
£500–£1,000
First appointment
£750–£1,250
Financial dispute resolution hearing
£1,250–£1,750
First day of final hearing
£1,500–£2,500
Court appearances per day after the first day
£750–£1,250
Public Access – Inheritance Act advice
The Inheritance Act 1975 protects spouses (including former spouses), cohabitants, children and other dependents when a person dies without leaving sufficient money for the dependent’s continued wellbeing. Carl Fender can provide you with written advice on whether you can make a claim under this legislation. He can also provide you with written advice when a person has died, leaving you a beneficiary of the estate, but where someone else is making a claim under the Inheritance Act.
Timescales – Timescales for your case may vary, as explained above, and they can also be affected by the value and complexity of the deceased person’s estate as well as your financial needs and those of any beneficiary of the estate. However, claims under the Inheritance Act must be made within 6 months of the grant of probate, so as a guide your written advice will be available within 2 to 4 weeks wherever possible.
Fees – Carl’s fixed-fee basis means you will be charged a pre-determined amount of money for the services provided. Below is a range of indicative pricing where the deceased person’s estate is worth less than £300,000 (please contact our clerk if the estate is worth more than £300,000). A range is shown because the deceased person’s estate can vary in complexity, so fees could potentially be greater than the sums shown below. Please note that this is an estimate and not a quotation, and that VAT will be added at 20%.
Estimated range of fixed fees
Written advice on making or defending a claim
£750–£1,250
