Well, there is nothing that legally stops you from being offered a 100% compensation agreement, but for most types of cases it is highly unlikely.
Sadly the law changed two years ago and the government stopped you from recovering all of your legal fees from the opponent. Just to add insult to injury, the government also introduced tighter fixed fees and slashed the costs that lawyers can recover to unworkable amounts.
Trust me – what we can recover is grossly below the level of work we have to do on many cases.
What is the common charge?
Most firms will take 25% from you to cover the success fee they can no longer recover. On top of that you may be charged for insurance and you may be charged for additional expenses and costs because the fee system has been fixed and reduced.
Do all lawyers take 25%?
No – I can tell you that we don’t have to take 25% from you. We can offer better deals for our clients that can save them thousands of pounds. Lots of firms charge the 25% as an absolute standard.
Can I be charged more than 25%?
For the success fee, no (or at least they shouldn’t be as it’s capped by law); but overall, yes.
Some firms will take 25% for the success fee and then charge an additional, say, 15% for additional fees. As long as it’s separate and is not classed as success fee then it can be set at whatever you agree it to be.
So yes – some firms do take figures like 40%.
Will anyone offer me 100%?
Most of the time, no.
But at The Injury Lawyers we can offer 100% for some types of cases, so it is by all means possible. It is not illegal – the law change has stopped you from recovering certain fees, but it has not banned law firms from offering 100%.
