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Marlow & Vale Book a first meeting

Solicitors · plain English, fixed fees · Oxford

Law, in your language.

Marlow & Vale is a four-solicitor firm with one house rule: if you can't explain it to the client without Latin, you don't understand it yet. Wills, property, small business — quoted up front, written in sentences you can repeat at dinner.

Book a first meeting
Dark leather book spines with gold numbering on a library shelf

What we do

The law most lives actually need.

We do the unglamorous, load-bearing work: buying and selling homes, wills and probate, powers of attorney, leases and contracts for small businesses. No mergers, no courtroom drama series — just the documents your life runs on, done carefully.

If your matter needs a specialist we don't have, we'll say so in the first meeting and give you two names. That honesty costs us work and wins us families.

A wood-panelled meeting room with a stone fireplace

How it goes

Your matter, in four steps.

Every file at this firm moves the same way. You'll always know which step you're on, because we'll tell you without being asked.

  1. The plain answer

    First meeting: you talk, we listen, and you leave knowing three things — what's involved, what it costs, and how long it takes. In that order, in plain words.

  2. The quote, fixed

    The fee in writing before we start. Fixed means fixed — if it takes us longer than we thought, that's our education, not your invoice.

  3. The work, narrated

    A short email every Friday your file is open, even when the news is 'the other side is slow'. Silence is the thing clients hate most; we simply don't do it.

  4. The done

    Keys, grant, signature — whatever done looks like for your matter, delivered with a one-page summary in English of what just happened and what to keep where.

The guarantee

Counted, plainly.

0 Latin phrases in our client letters
100% Of fees quoted before work begins
4 Solicitors. You'll know which is yours
48h Longest we'll leave a question unanswered
The house rule
If the client can't repeat it at dinner, write it again.
Margaret Marlow, founding partner — still enforced

Fixed fees

Quoted like grown-ups.

The common matters, priced. Anything unusual gets a fixed quote in the first meeting — the point is you knowing, not us hedging.

Wills & Powers

£240 single will, fixed

A will that says what you mean, explained clause by clause. Mirror wills and powers of attorney quoted together.

  • Explained in plain English
  • Stored here, free, forever
Book a first meeting
Most popular

Home Conveyancing

£1,150 fixed, typical sale or purchase

The whole journey from offer to keys, with the Friday email throughout and no 'additional disbursement' surprises.

  • The Friday email, always
  • Fixed even when chains wobble
Get your quote

Small Business

£ fixed, per matter contracts, leases, setups

Terms, leases and shareholder agreements for businesses our size — written to be read, not filed.

  • A lawyer who answers the phone
  • Plain-English summaries of every document
Tell us what's up

Client letters

Kept on file, with permission

Our last solicitor sent letters I had to google. Marlow & Vale sent one that ended 'in short: you can exchange Thursday'. I nearly framed it.
Sarah & Tom D.House purchase
The quote was fixed, the chain collapsed twice, and the invoice didn't move. I've told everyone at work. Twice.
James P.The wobbly chain, survived
They talked us out of a more expensive structure because we didn't need it. A law firm billing less than it could — my accountant asked me to repeat that slowly.
Priya N.Small business client

Start here

The first half hour is free.

Thirty minutes, a pot of tea, and the plain answer. Bring the paperwork if you have it, the worry if you don't.

Visitors pick a date and time here, then leave their details.

Open
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri
Hours
09:00–17:00
Slots
09:00 · 09:30 · 10:00 · 10:30 · 11:00 · 11:30 …

The office

The blue door on Ship Street.

Ring, write or walk in — reception is a human named Dot and she has run this firm's front desk, and arguably the firm, for nineteen years.

Email
hello@example.com
Phone
+44 1865 555 041
Address
Oxford
Hours
Mon–Fri 9–17 Friday emails go out before we do