No Win No Fee
Are you looking for a 'No win no fee' agreement for your claim?
If you are then simply call us on 0800 192939, e-mail us or you can going directly to one of our specialist solicitors via our postcode search. Accident Line is The Law Society's personal injury insurance and referral service. We were formed with the simple remit to provide the public with a profession and ethical service they can trust.
What is meant by the term ‘No win no fee’?
In recent years the term No win No fee has become a household phrase. It is commonly used in television advertising encouraging people to claim for their personal injuries.
Most people would say they have heard or even used the term, but what does it really mean?
All too often with these “agreements” the devil is in the detail. A more accurate phrase would be, “No win, No Fee - subject to terms and conditions”.
This type of agreement, when used in conjunction with personal injury advertising is referring to a contract between you and your appointed solicitor (who would be acting on your behalf in bringing your claim against the responsible party).
No win no fee agreements are known to solicitors as Conditional Fee Agreements or CFA’s. These agreements set out the solicitor's terms of business. In broad terms they explain that you will only be liable for their costs (i.e. their time and expertise in pursuing your claim), if they are successful in recovering damages (compensation) from the person/s that were responsible for your injury.
There will always be Terms and Conditions attached to these agreements, which your solicitor will explain.
Why do we have No win No fee claims?
When the Government abolished Legal Aid it meant that people who could not afford to pay for a solicitor no longer had access to justice. As England and Wales operate a “loser pays” legal system, it enabled the introduction of CFA’s or no wins no fee agreements to the market.
How does a CFA agreement work?
When you contact a solicitor with a potential claim for compensation, they will conduct a risk assessment of your case. This means they assess the likelihood of your claim being successful. Solicitors will only ever take a case on under a CFA if they consider the prospects of success are good.
If after the risk assessment the solicitor feels there are good prospects of winning your case, they will offer to pursue it under a CFA agreement, so provided you agree to abide by their terms and conditions, they will represent you and only charge a fee if your claim is successful.
The advantage of conducting cases on a no win no fee basis for the solicitor is that it enables them to charge a success fee if they win.
What is a success fee?
A success fee is the mechanism that makes a CFA agreements viable for solicitors.
In basic terms it is a percentage based risk fee the solicitor can charge to the other party in addition to their base costs incurred throughout the case. The success fee reflects the costs risk exposure the solicitor has undertaken, in the event the case is unsuccessful.
For example, a success fee of 100% would mean the solicitor would be able to charge theirs costs, plus another 100% of their costs to the party at fault.
A success fee is calculated by considering all of the relevant risks and complexities of the case and expressing it as percentage.
What costs are involved in running a claim for compensation?
There will always be costs involved in running litigation. Care should be taken whenever considering taking legal action even if you are taking advantage of a no win no fee agreement.
Ultimately if you are pursuing a claim for compensation you are liable for all of the costs involved. The reason for this is because you can only recover from the party to blame the costs that you would have paid in order to bring the claim.
Costs involved in litigation are:
No win no fee agreements do not cover you for your disbursements (e.g. medical reports, police reports etc) or for the other sides legal costs in the event of you losing your claim.
These costs are generally covered by an insurance policy. If you do not have any insurance cover, your solicitor will be able to recommend one for you. Accident Line insurance premiums are payable on a conditional basis. This means they only become payable if you win your case.
As with the no win no fee agreements, these will then be recovered from the party to blame for your injury.