To set the scene, I’m going to briefly explain about the legal changes that came in to force on April 1st 2013. The gist is that for people making a claim after this date, it’s likely that their lawyer will not be able to recover all of their legal fees from the other side. Before April, all reasonable legal fees were recoverable. After April, the government banned the recovery of some of the lawyer’s fees.
The two things that can no longer be recovered are:
- Success Fee – which is usually a percentage of our fees that helps us to fund no win, no fee claims.
- After The Event insurance premium – insurance we take out that we can claim adverse costs or unrecoverable disbursements from.
As a result, the vast majority of law firms are now charging clients. The ‘market rate’ appears to be 25% because that’s the maximum the government have allowed a lawyer to charge a client for the unrecoverable success fee, and many law firms are also asking for payment of the insurance premium.
So in light of these changes, are any firms still offering 100% compensation?
We, for many cases, still are. For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to focus on misleading advertisement that we have seen from other firms, so if you would just like information on how we can still offer you 100% compensation despite the legal changes, click here: www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk/100-percent-compensation-4u.php.
To learn about how to spot a fake from the real deal like us, read on!
100% No Win No Fee
This is a term we have seen on a few websites. It doesn’t actually say 100% compensation; it simply states 100% no win no fee. But what does that even mean? Does that mean that you will 100% not be charged if the claim doesn’t win? I doubt it really means you will keep 100% compensation, or they would just say 100% compensation instead of conveniently changing it when the law changed!
Not only that, but if I had a pound for every time one of our new clients called us up and told us that other law firms websites purported to give 100% compensation, only for them to find out on the phone that they will lose 25% of their payout, I’d be fairly well off by now! Some law firms haven’t changed their websites to reflect the changes at all!
So be VERY careful – don’t be afraid to ask for direct answers about any charges that may be involved. And check your paperwork carefully!
“You will pay nothing to claim”
Here is another common one – OK, so I’m not going to pay anything to claim if I have a 100% No Win No Fee agreement, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t face a deduction from the payout. There is a difference between paying something and facing a deduction if you take it literally. So cleverly worded ads like that can also mislead people in my opinion – watch out!
I saw another site saying that the days of 100% compensation are over, and clients have told me that lawyers have told them that it is “illegal to offer 100% compensation” or that “everyone is charging now” or “don’t trust them if they say its 100% compensation”. Well all I can say to that is this – if you want the opportunity to keep 100% of your compensation, and you fit our criteria which is generally based on the type of accident you have had (such as work accidents, slips and trips, public liability cases, product liability cases, highways claims etc), get in touch on 0800 634 75 75.
We back our promises up in our paperwork – so it’s all there, in black and white, explaining that although we are entitled to charge because of the legal changes, and although certain fees are no longer recoverable, you can still keep 100% of your payout.
And before you worry, there are no upfront payments or payments to make during or at the end of the claim – we are not disguising 100% payout by substituting it for a charge instead!
We have taken on a lot of claims since the legal changes – so join the people keeping all of their payout!
