You may think that you know all that there is to know about no win, no fee already. However, I do urge you to read on as I have included answers to many frequently asked questions we get here at The Injury Lawyers, and I also offer some words of caution before agreeing to instruct a solicitor on a no win, no fee basis.
What happens if you lose your claim?
Well, yes, no win no fee should do what it says on the tin: i.e. you lose your claim; you do not have to pay any costs to your solicitor for the running of your claim whatsoever. To this I can hear you saying – ‘well, how do you get paid?’ If you lose your claim, a law firm should have an insurance policy in place to cover their outgoing costs. It should be of note however, that this policy may not cover the cost of the time your solicitor has spent on your case, and therefore running a claim does come at some risk to the law firm as we will not charge you for this time spent.
…and if you win?
In the event you win your case, you should also pay no costs to your solicitor. On winning a case, a solicitor recovers their costs from the other side. You should be getting 100% of your compensation, with no deductions made by your solicitor. The reason for this is that compensation is meant to put you in the position you would have been in had you not have had the accident – therefore, if your solicitor takes a proportion of your compensation, this still would leave you in a worse off position.
Words of caution
What I have said above may seem straight forward – however, the advice does come with a word of caution. A no win no fee agreement is not a standard form; by this, I mean that each and every law firm will have their own terms and conditions – so everything is based on what you agree to with the individual law firm itself. It is therefore crucial to check the agreement, often called a Conditional Fee Agreement, thoroughly. A good item to check is whether their costs are restricted to what they can recover. A solicitor is not always able to claim back 100% of their costs on a case, and if their costs are unrestricted, it may mean that they can come to you for the remainder.
If you require any further advice regarding no win, no fee claiming please feel free to give us a call or submit your details below.
