Conditional Fee Agreements
Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs), commonly known as "No Win, No
Fee" agreements, have been lawful for a limited range of cases
since 1995.
Before 1995 it was not lawful for a lawyer to act in litigation
on a "No win, No fee" basis. Any attempt to agree such terms of
business was void and unenforceable.
The law has gradually relaxed this rule, recognising that "No
win, No fee" can enable access to justice for people who otherwise
would not be able to enforce their legal rights, due to the
prohibitively high cost of the legal process, and the limitations
of the legal aid scheme. The arrival of the
Access to Justice Act 1999 made CFAs lawful for any money
claim.
At the outset, we are willing to consider whether your case is
suitable for a conditional fee agreement. We can't offer such terms
in every case, but we are willing to consider whether a case might
be suitable for funding on a conditional fee basis.
Conditional fee agreements are relatively sophisticated, so an
explanation of how they work may be useful.
How Conditional Fee Agreements Work
Under the agreement, we will not charge you for any work done on
the case by us unless you win your case. You "win" if your opponent
agrees or is ordered to pay you damages. So if you don't win, we
get nothing. If you win you can generally expect your opponent to
be ordered to pay your legal costs. So you can then expect to
recover our charges from your opponent.
Insurance and Success fees
For most standard cases, it is possible to arrange "After the
event" insurance, to cover you in case the case is lost. It is
called "After the event" insurance because you take it out after
the incident that has given rise to your claim and for the purpose
of the claim. The policy won't pay our fees if you lose, because if
you do lose, our fees will be nil. But if you lose, you would
generally expect to have to pay your opponent's costs, and an After
the Event policy can cover you against this risk. It means that if
you don't win, you will not have to pay a fee, because you will be
protected against the order for costs against you.
A further benefit we offer when we help you organise your "After
the Event" insurance policy is that your premium is only payable at
the end of the case and only if you win. If you lose, the premium
can be waived.
In return for taking a risk on a case, we will charge a "success
fee". The success fee is a percentage of our ordinary time-based
charge for the work.
The Access to Justice Act 1999 enables you to usually recover
the success fee and insurance premium from your opponent if you win
your case. This means that you get your just award and your
opponent has to bear all the costs.
Which cases are suitable for No Win, No Fee Agreements?
Any money claim but particularly personal injury cases e.g. road
traffic accident claims, employers or occupiers liability claims,
claims against Highways Authorities arising out of disrepair of
roads. Other types of case might include a claim for damages
suffered as a result of medical negligence or professional
negligence, or damages claims arising out of contract or tort.
If you qualify for legal aid, you have legal expenses insurance
or you are a member of a trade union, then it is not usually
appropriate for a claim to be pursued under a "no win no fee"
agreement.
How do I start to make a Claim?
Please contact us for a free interview. We will advise whether
your claim is likely to succeed and we will assess whether you will
be entitled to Legal Aid. If you do not qualify, we will consider
whether we can offer a No Win, No Fee Agreement.
Assessment of Risk
We will establish the degree of risk involved in pursuing your
case to a successful conclusion. We generally do not take on cases
where the chances of success are less than 50%.