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No Win No Fee Agreements

Sounds great, doesn't it? But does a No Win No Fee agreement really mean what it says? Here is some information for you.

Background

Not long ago, No Win No Fee agreements were actually unlawful. It was considered to be wrong for a solcitor's fees to be based upon whether he won or lost. But that all changed when the government took legal aid away from most accident claims, and to compensate they made it legal for solicitors to act on a No Win No Fee Agreement. This was done by a piece of legislation called the Access to Justice Act, and many people think that was not a very good name for it!

So now, it is almost impossible to get Legal Aid for an accident claim, unless you have a very specialised, complicated, or very highly expensive case. For most people, legal aid has been discontinued for accident claims. Whether or not this was a good thing has been the subject of much debate. But we now seem to be stuck with it, and the only real means of the average person claiming for personal injury is by a No Win No Fee agreement of one sort or another.

Two Types

First there is an arrangement where the solicitor takes a percentage of your winnings. This is called a Contingency Fee. This is only allowed in certain types of case, and accident claims are not included, so you will never at the moment come across this type of arrangement in accident claims (unless in Scotland, where it is under certain conditions allowed)

The second type of arrangement, and the one we are concerned with here, is called a Conditional Fee Agreement, which I will now call a CFA. This is what you will normally have with your solicitor

The Conditional Fee Agreement

To understand how a CFA works, you have to appreciate that there are 3 types of expense you can incur when you make a claim. They are:

  • Your own solicitors fees
  • Your own expenses such as doctor's fees, court fees, fees for medical records, barrister's fees etc.
  • The costs of the other side, which you might have to pay if you lose the case

    Now, a CFA is an agreement between you and your solicitor, and it usually deals with his fees only. It will usually say that if you lose he gets paid nothing, but that if you win he will get paid his normal fee plus a bit extra which is called the success fee. The CFA will state how much the success fee is to be.

    Well, that's fine so far your own solicitor's fees are concerned, but what about the other two types of expense you might have - your own expenses and the other side's costs?

    To deal with these, you will take out an insurance policy. This policy will pay for the expenses of the case and for the costs of the other side if you lose.

    The Insurance Policy

    There are now a number of insurers who offer this type of insurance, which is called After the Event Insurance. Policies and costs vary from insurer to insurer, but they all have some common features.

  • All policies are designed to pay the other side's costs if you lose. There will be limits to the amount they will pay, so you need to be sure the policy covers all the likely costs.
  • Most policies will also cover doctor's fees, court fees, fees for medical records and that sort of thing.
  • Many but not all policies will cover your own barrister's fees.

    Carefully consider what your policy covers you for. Your solicitor ought ot be able to give you advice about the best policy for you. I certainly will!

    The cost of insurance policies varies greatly from insurer to insurer, and from case to case. But as a rough guide they cost from a couple of hundred pounds for a simple road accident case, to several thousand for complicated clinical negligence cases.

    This kind of insurance is now commonly available with schemes which don't actaully cost anything. Sounds great, and it is. When you sign up for the insurance, you don't pay anything up front. If you win the case the insurance premium is then paid by the other side. If you lose the case, the insurance company cancel the premium.

    Summary

    A No Win No Fee Agreement is an agreement with your solicitor that he gets paid only if you win, and gets nothing if you lose. You may have to take out insurance to cover other costs, but this insurance can cost you nothing.

    Getting your costs back from the other side

    Although an award of costs is always in the discretion of the court, it is usual for the winning party to be paid his costs by the other side. But does this mean that you will get back all your costs? These days, the answer is that you should do. Provided you and your solicitor have not incurred unreasonably high costs, the other side should pay them all, including any insurance you have taken out.

    So, I am able to offer a service which guarantees that you will not have to pay anything, and you will not have anything deducted from your compensation

    No catches. No kidding.

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