No win, no fee
The most common arrangement for a negligence, assault or harassment case is a “no win, no fee” (also known as a conditional fee) agreement. If you lose, as long as you have stuck to your part of the agreement, you will pay nothing at all. The only exception will be if you have agreed in advance that that you will pay for a specific item such as a medical report, although in practice, we will usually pay all expenses such as fees for medical records, reports and court fees.
If we win, the defendant will pay the vast majority of our fees and expenses.
Although the law allows us to charge you for fees we cannot recover from the defendant and a success fee to compensate us for the risk of losing, we guarantee that we will limit this to a maximum of 20% of your damages.
In medical negligence cases, it may be advisable to get expert reports on whether practitioners in your case were negligent and the extent of the injury they caused as a result. As these reports can be very expensive, we may recommend insurance in case they are negative. We work with a leading provider of legal insurance who can provide a policy, which would cost you nothing if the case does not proceed. If you do recover compensation, the policy would typically be charged at between 3% and 5% of your damages.
Existing insurance policies
You may have legal expenses insurance as part of an existing policy, such as your household contents cover. If so, you can choose to instruct the solicitors’ firm you want, even if it is not on your insurer’s panel.
Paying privately
Clients who do not benefit from insurance or who cannot or do not wish to enter into a “no win, no fee” agreement are given the option of paying privately.
Funding for Employment Tribunal cases
For discrimination cases in the Employment Tribunal, “no win, no fee” agreements are not allowed by law, and one party is rarely ordered to pay the other’s lawyer’s fees.
You may have insurance which will cover the cost of Tribunal proceedings, but, if you don’t, we will discuss the possibility of a contingency fee agreement, meaning we would charge a percentage of your damages for our fees. This would typically be 25% but the exact amount would depend on the specific circumstances of your case. We will agree this percentage with you in advance. Alternatively, the most appropriate arrangement may be to pay privately.
In addition to our costs for acting there are fees to be paid to the Tribunal for issuing the claim, and for applications and hearings as it progresses. The total Tribunal fees will vary, depending on how far the case has progressed through the system. If you win your claim, the other side will usually be ordered to pay your Tribunal fees, and vice versa.
We will advise you about your funding options when you contact us to discuss your claim.
