How we chose
We started from the eighteen criminal-defence candidates Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the SRA register, each firm's own website and directory listings [1] [4]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Eight firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, then qualifications, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated early September 2026.
How to hire
If you are arrested, you will usually be taken to a police station, held in a cell and then questioned [3]. Legal aid reaches police-station advice through a separate route from other cases [2], and the duty solicitor scheme means an arrested client gets free advice at the station. Tell the custody officer you want a solicitor, and wait for that advice before answering questions about the allegation.
Most Telford cases start at the police station and reach a first hearing at the Telford Justice Centre at Malinsgate, which lists public parking nearby and a security search on entry [8]. Serious matters travel on to the Crown Court at Shrewsbury, where parking is tighter and the nearest public car park sits at Abbey Foregate [9]. Ask your solicitor which court your charge is listed in and who will attend, so the trip and the day are planned once. Allow extra time for the search and for finding the right courtroom, since morning lists start promptly.
Check anyone you instruct on the SRA register before you pay them anything. Type the firm name into the register search and confirm the entry matches the business on your quote; no result means no record, so do not assume the firm is regulated [1]. The Law Society's Find a Solicitor database lets you filter by crime, motoring or fraud work and by place, which narrows the Telford field fast [4]. Ask the firm for its SRA number and match it yourself rather than trusting a logo.
Past the police station, legal aid for court cases turns on a means test and on whether the case passes the interests-of-justice test [2]. Three firms in this table hold criminal legal-aid contracts running from station to court, so ask directly whether your case is covered and what you must sign. If you pay privately, the SRA transparency rules require firms to publish prices for certain routine services, which is why motoring pages carry fixed figures [5]. Where no figure is published, treat the first meeting as the moment to pin the fee basis down.
A typical instruction runs in order. First contact carries the charge or summons papers, with custody details where an arrest is involved. Bring identification and any bail papers to that first contact, since both shape what happens next. Advice at the station follows, then the funding fork of legal-aid forms or a private fee agreement. Hearings follow at the court named on your papers, with the same solicitor attending wherever the practice can arrange it. The matter closes with an outcome letter and a final itemised bill, filed with everything that came before.
Get the quote in writing with the scope spelled out: which court, which hearings, police-station attendance, and who will actually attend each one. It should separate the solicitor's fee, counsel's fee where a barrister is briefed, expert costs such as forensics, and VAT on top [6]. Ask whether the fee is fixed or hourly, what triggers extra charges if a trial runs over, and what payment stages apply. A deposit for work to come is normal; full payment in cash before anything is done is not.
For motoring cases, send the summons or requisition papers with your enquiry so the quote reflects the actual charge and the court it is listed in, not a guess. Ask what happens to a fixed fee if you change plea or the case moves court, and whether hardship or special-reasons arguments carry their own price. Wade Solicitors is the one local practice to name those fees openly, so use its costs page as the benchmark when you compare.
At the end you should hold a client-care letter, a signed fee agreement or legal-aid forms, itemised bills, and copies of anything filed for you. File the closing bill with the outcome letter and keep the firm's complaints details alongside them. If a bill surprises you, ask for a breakdown first and follow the firm's complaints route before looking further afield.
If something goes wrong, the route runs through the firm first. Every client-care letter should carry its complaints details, and the Legal Ombudsman takes up service complaints where the firm's final response falls short or eight weeks pass without one [10]. Keep copies of the complaint and every reply with the file. Raise billing queries the same way, with the itemised bill to hand.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, two firms in the table publish criminal figures. FBC Manby Bowdler quotes a fixed figure for motoring defence, and Wade Solicitors names fixed fees for exceptional-hardship and special-reasons arguments on its costs page. Both are quoted plus VAT at the standard rate [6]. Every other firm in the table confirms costs only on enquiry, so treat your written quote as the price.
Motoring work is the clearest corner of the menu. One runner-up publishes a fixed figure for motoring defence plus VAT on its motoring page [11]. The defence-only practice names fixed fees with VAT figures for hardship and special-reasons arguments on its costs page. Both give you a benchmark to set any enquiry-only quote against.
Police-station advice costs you nothing at the point of use: arrested clients get free advice through the duty scheme, and legal aid runs a separate route for crime cases [2]. In court, legal aid turns on your means and the interests of justice, so ask any contracted firm whether your case qualifies before you agree private terms [2]. FBC Manby Bowdler states plainly that it offers no legal-aid help, which makes it a private-only instruction.
What moves a private price is the court and the calendar: a plea at the first hearing costs far less than a multi-day trial, and Crown Court briefs with counsel cost more than station-and-Magistrates' matters. Expert reports, travel to courts outside Telford and disbursements all add on, each carrying VAT at the standard rate [6]. Ask which of these your quote includes and which would be billed extra.
Job by job, the price movers differ. Station attendance is free to the arrested client through the duty scheme [2]. A Magistrates' trial turns on plea, court days, experts and whether counsel is briefed. Cases bound for Shrewsbury carry brief fees, travel and longer preparation, each pulling the total upward [9].
Get the fee basis in writing before work starts: fixed or hourly, the VAT position, each disbursement, and what changes the price if the case runs longer than expected. The SRA transparency rules require firms to publish prices for certain routine services, so a firm quoting motoring work with no figure anywhere should explain why [5]. Keep every quote, fee agreement and bill together, and query anything that was never agreed.
Red flags
No matching entry when you search the trading name on the SRA register [1].
Quotes a trial without putting the court, the hearings covered and the fee basis in writing.
Will not say whether legal aid or a fixed fee applies to your case before asking you to sign.
Asks for the full fee in cash up front, with no written terms or receipt.
Names no office address or reachable phone on its site or listing.
Promises a particular outcome for your case rather than explaining the process.
Goes quiet when you ask which solicitor will actually attend the station or the court.
Says legal aid is certain before seeing your means or the charge.
Presses you to answer police questions before the duty solicitor arrives.
The bottom line
For most people, start with Talbots Telford: full police-station-to-court cover from a Telford base, a round-the-clock line and legal-aid guidance in one place. It is the one firm in the table that joins all three together.
Match the firm to the matter. Hine Solicitors fits financial-crime worries, WMB Law fits serious cases, FBC Manby Bowdler or Wade Solicitors fit motoring work on published fixed fees, and Clarkes, PCB or CS Solicitors fit legal-aid defence from the station onward.
Check the firm on the SRA register, ask whether legal aid covers your case, and get the fee basis in writing before you sign anything.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.