NO WIN NO FEE COMPENSATION CLAIM ADVICE

Most accident cases in which victims are attempting to claim damages for personal injury are now handled by solicitors using a ‘conditional fee agreement’ (CFA) otherwise known as a no win no fee compensation claim. A CFA is entered into by the client and the solicitor whereby the solicitor is only allowed to charge a legal fee if the claim is successful and the client is awarded compensation. In almost all cases the loser also pays the winning sides legal costs thereby ensuring that compensation is paid in full to the winning client with no deductions.

If a no win no fee compensation claim is lost and the client does not receive an award of damages then the solicitor will not be paid and must write off legal costs. The solicitor will only receive payment if the court rules in the clients favour and the solicitor will therefore pay great attention to initial information supplied by the client in an attempt to establish whether or not the claim has a reasonable chance of success sufficient for the solicitor to consider investing his time and money.

For a solicitor to take on a no win no fee compensation claim it does not have to be watertight. Most solicitors will take on a case using a CFA if it has a reasonable or better than evens chance of success. Some solicitors however are not willing to take any risk and will reject all but the most secure potential cases. Most solicitors will carry out a basic risk assessment before entering into a CFA and for more complicated cases they will make detailed studies and assessments and often ask other lawyers for their opinions on liability and quantum before they decide whether to accept the case or not. It must be remembered that the entire financial risk of a case using a CFA falls on the conducting lawyer.

Not all no win no fee compensation claim agreements are the same. A CFA must only follow a basic format. Some lawyers and claims companies will ask you to fund disbursements and expenses as the claim continues. Some will even ask you to take out a personal loan to cover that cost and also to finance buying an insurance policy which in most cases is unnecessary. In extreme cases you may also find that an agreement requires payment of a percentage of the amount of the final award of compensation.

Our no win no fee compensation claim agreement pays compensation in full with no deductions and we will never ask you to fund or finance your claim as it proceeds. If we lose, you pay nothing and if we win you pay nothing. Win or lose there is no charge and there is therefore no risk whatsoever to the client.