No Win No Fee Lawyer Improved Services

In the past, the whole topic of injury claims was accompanied by some criticism. But with the arrival of conditional fees and agreements, such as the well known no win no fee, solicitors are recovering from the damage sustained through earlier decades of poor practice and reestablishing the integrity of the law.

In actual fact, it is not only injury lawyers and the law in general that is benefiting from the development. Any person who has suffered a genuine injury in a road traffic accident or in an accident at work are now better advised, better represented and better able to place trust in the law.

And when it comes to getting accident compensation, the chances of success are far greater, and hidden costs and unexpected extra fees have become a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, the image that injury claimants once had was far from impressive. Thanks to the unethical practices of some members of the law profession, making dubious claims against employers, public service providers and even private individuals had become common.

As a result, the image of the law was compromised. Some lawyers charged fees for cases that were never likely to succeed, even encouraging individuals to take cases though they themselves felt there was no reason to.

However, since the arrival of the no win no fee practice, the onus has been on practitioners of the law to win the case before being paid. The upshot of this is that lawyers are now selective in their choice of cases, preferring to take on cases that are likely to be won and refusing those that are deemed to be spurious. This, in turn, means that the dishonest members of society seeking to take advantage of compensation rights now find it more difficult to do so.

From the point of view of the claimant, the key advantage of this arrangement is that lawyers are more inclined to work hard to win a case. Evidence does need to be gathered, statements secured and other aspects of case preparation done properly. After all, a poorly prepared case can easily fail, even on a simple technicality. Lawyers, knowing that they receive nothing if that is the case, now must do their utmost to be fully ready.

What is more, since a weak claim is something now considered by lawyers as a waste of time, they are more willing to advise against pursuing it and are compelled to explain why. This advice is in sharp contrast to some of the advice from the more unscrupulous practitioners of the past. In many cases, making a claim was encouraged because a fee would be earned even when the claim failed.

Now, the whole matter of earning a fee rests on winning the case. This is because the losing party will be required to pay all costs relating to the case. So, should an employee suffer an injury in work, perhaps breaking an ankle, and the employer is found to have been negligent, then the employer will pay the compensation sum, the fees of the winning lawyer, and any further court fees involved.

This also means that the claimant will receive 100 per cent of the claim sum, but this does depend somewhat on the type of conditional fee agreement that is made. The no win no fee agreement almost always means that losing party pays the fees, but in some cases the agreement relates to the lawyer receiving an agreed percentage of the compensation sum.

This type of agreement is known as damages based conditional fees, or DBCFs. They are generally discouraged by the courts in accident compensation claims because of the tendency for exorbitant sums to be sought, but they are sometimes agreed between lawyer and client, particularly in employment cases.

However, it is not generally advisable for claimants to enter into such an agreement with injury lawyers, and vital that a clear understanding exists between both parties before any case is actually begun.