Initial consultation
Thirty minutes, fixed fee, in person or by video: what the matter looks like, whether it needs counsel at all, and what the realistic next step costs.
Slots inside 5 working days; video often next day
Legal chambers
Half an hour with someone who will tell you whether you have a case before you spend anything
A set of eighteen where the first half hour is fixed-fee, and where a clerk will tell you plainly when we are not the right people.
Not signed in — ask about anything public, or sign in from the chat to see your own bookings.
What you can book
The meetings a clerk can put in the diary
Five kinds of appointment, with what each covers, who it is open to and how far ahead the diary currently runs. The assistant books from this list rather than improvising.
Employment conference
An hour on a dismissal, discrimination or settlement question, with the papers read beforehand rather than across the table.
Booked within 2 weeks; papers needed 3 days ahead
Family conference
An hour on children or finance arrangements, in a room set up for it, with a clerk who will not put two parties in the same waiting area.
Booked within 2 weeks
Commercial dispute review
Ninety minutes on a contract or shareholder dispute, including a written note of the issues afterwards.
Booked within 3 weeks
Document review
A member reads a bundle and writes a note — no meeting, no travel, priced by the hour against an agreed cap.
Note within 10 working days of the bundle arriving
See it answer
Three things worth asking
Each one opens the assistant with the question already sent — you only wait for the reply.
What does the first consultation cover, what does it cost, and do I need a solicitor?
Answered from the published consultation list and fee arrangements through list_services and list_plans.
I'd like to book the first consultation about an employment matter, by video if possible.
Opens the booking form as a card in the chat with a real slot picker, already set to what you said.
Can you confirm what's booked under HC-4417?
Asks which email it was booked under, then reads it back. Signed in, it goes straight to your own diary.
The desk
In the diary
Confirmed and pending appointments with their reference and state. Look one up with its reference and the email it was booked under, or sign in and see your own.
HC-4417confirmed
One hour on a dismissal three weeks ago, video, papers to follow
Confirmed for Thursday 09:00 by video with a member who does employment work weekly. Papers requested by Monday.
HC-4402completed
The fixed-fee first half hour that led to the conference above
Held 11 September. Advice was that the matter does need counsel and is comfortably in time.
HC-4423pending
A shareholder agreement bundle for a written note, capped fee
Waiting on the bundle and a signed agreed-fee letter; the ten working days start when both arrive.
Signed in as the demo customer, the assistant reads these back through my_bookings. Signed out, it asks for a booking reference and the email it belongs to.
How fees work
Three fee arrangements, explained before anything is booked rather than in a letter afterwards.
Fixed first meeting
£120 including VAT
Anyone who wants to know whether they have a case before spending properly.
- Thirty minutes with a member
- In person or by video
- A plain answer on whether counsel is needed
- Nothing further owed if you stop there
Agreed fee
Quoted per piece of work
A defined task — a conference, an opinion, a hearing — priced before it starts.
- Written quote before instruction
- Capped at the quoted figure
- Papers read within the fee
- A clerk you can ring about it
Conditional
By assessment
Some employment and personal-injury matters, where merits allow it.
- Assessed at the first meeting
- Terms in writing before instruction
- Success percentage stated up front
- Declined plainly where merits do not support it
Book a time
Pick a slot and say who it is for — the confirmation arrives by email. The assistant can open this same form for you — that is what open_desk_form does.
What is real here, and what is not
Halloway Chambers is a business invented for this page. Read this before you believe anything else on it.
Genuinely running
- The assistant on this page is a live Busymate AI assistant, grounded in this site's own published pages.
- The consultation list, the fee arrangements and the diary come from this demo's own MCP server — real tool calls, not pasted text.
- The page registers its own actions over WebMCP, so an agent can highlight an appointment type or open the booking form.
- Signing in as the demo client is a real identity hand-off: the assistant receives a name and an email address it never asked for.
Seeded, not connected
- There is no Calendly account behind this page. Nothing booked here appears in Calendly, or in any other calendar or scheduling tool.
- Halloway Chambers is an invented set. The members, fees, appointments, clients and diary are fixtures written for this demo, and nothing here is legal advice.
- Bookings made here live in memory until this demo restarts. No slot is held and no clerk is notified.
The Calendly connection is on the roadmap, not in production — this page shows the assistant half of it working against a seeded diary so you can judge the experience before the connector exists.
Put this on your own site
The same clerks' desk, on your own site and your own calendar
The same assistant, the same page actions, the same identified sign-in — on your Calendly setup instead of this one.
- Point the assistant at your site so your appointment types, fees and lead times become the answers it gives, as published content rather than a re-typed copy.
- Expose the diary as a small MCP server: the slots you are willing to offer, a lookup by reference and email, and a read that only answers for the signed-in person.
- Give the booking tool an action card with a real slot picker, so a time is chosen in one tap rather than negotiated over four emails.
- Wire the identity hand-off so a returning client is recognised and their own appointments answer without them typing an address.
- Draw the line in the assistant's own instructions: it arranges meetings, it does not give advice — and it says so the moment it is asked to.
Frequently asked
The assistant answers from these same words — ask it any of them and compare.
Do I need a solicitor to instruct you?
Not for an initial consultation, an employment conference or a family conference — those can be booked directly. Commercial dispute reviews do need a solicitor, because the papers and the disclosure position need someone holding the file.
What does the first meeting actually cost?
A hundred and twenty pounds including VAT for thirty minutes, whether in person or by video, and nothing further is owed if you decide to stop there. If it turns out you do not need counsel at all, that is what the clerk will tell you.
How far ahead is the diary?
Initial consultations are usually inside five working days, and often next day by video. Employment and family conferences run about two weeks, commercial reviews about three. A clerk will always say plainly if a matter is too urgent for the diary.
What should I bring or send beforehand?
For an initial consultation, nothing — half an hour of talking is enough. For a conference, the papers should reach the clerks' room three working days ahead so the member reads them beforehand rather than across the table, which is most of what you are paying for.