If you have a claim that you cannot afford to pursue, you may want to consider entering into a conditional-fee agreement - or no-win, no-fee agreement - with a solicitor. A no-win, no-fee agreement allows you to pursue your claim and be responsible for paying your solicitor’s fees only if your claim is successful. However, no-win, no-fee agreements are complex legal agreements and you should ask your solicitor the following questions before entering into one. Firstly you should ask your no-win, no-fee lawyer what costs you will have to pay if your claim is successful. Your lawyer will explain that if your claim is successful, you may have to pay their fees. Therefore it is important to ask what amount these fees are likely to reach.

Your no-win, no-fee lawyer may charge a success fee. A success fee is an additional fee charged by the solicitor, on top of their normal fees, as a reward for taking on your claim without the guarantee that their fees will be paid. The success fee is charged as a percentage of the solicitor’s normal fees and can be up to a maximum of 100% of those fees. However, your no-win, no-fee lawyer will explain that in the majority of cases, the unsuccessful party to the claim is responsible for paying the other side’s costs, including the success fees.

This leads to your second question which should concern what costs you will have to pay if you lose your claim. The court may order you to pay the successful party’s legal costs. In order to protect you from this eventuality your no-win, no-fee lawyer will recommend that you take out after-the-event insurance. If you cannot afford after-the-event insurance, your solicitor may offer to buy it for you on the condition that you repay them if your claim is successful.

You should also ask your no-win, no-fee lawyer if there are any other costs or disbursements you will have to pay. Disbursements are costs paid by a solicitor on behalf of their client that are necessary for the claim to continue. For example disbursements include court fees, medical report costs, police report costs, barristers’ fees, expert witness fees etc. In most no-win, no-fee agreements, the claimant will be responsible for paying disbursements. However, it is possible to obtain legal-expenses insurance to cover your disbursements if your claim is unsuccessful.

Last Updated on 29/08/2011





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