These FAQs are designed to provide a few useful pointers on how you can gain access to legal help through a system commonly called "no win, no fees" system can allow legal representation to be provided to you at no cost, with the solicitor recovering their fees only if successful.
It is open to an individual to fund their case from their own pocket, however, other options are available to those who want to pursue a case with legal representation, but who are not eligible for public legal funding.
The various funding methods available are:
Conditional fee agreements (cfas), which were introduced in 1995 and extended in 1998 to all civil litigation with the exception of family proceedings.
Legal Insurance polices which consists of various options that can be combined with a conditional fee agreement for instance, or can be used as a standalone policy.
Trade union or membership organisation assistance, which could also be offered with a conditional fee agreement or on its own.
Contingency fees can also be used in certain cases, this is where a solicitor charges a certain percentage of the damages won as his fees.
These options can be undertaken on their own or as a combined policy. For instance conditional fee agreements can be undertaken with an insurance policy to cover any adverse costs orders.
The term 'no win no fee' is used extensively and it can relate to a number of quite different agreements. Generally 'no win no fee' is used in the context of conditional fee agreements (cfas). Under such agreements, if you win your case, you must pay your solicitor's fees and any expenses for items such as experts' reports and barrister's or other solicitor's opinions. These are known as disbursements. If you lose, you need pay no fees to your solicitor. However, you may have to pay your opponent's legal costs and both sides' disbursements. Conditional fees are subject to regulations which set out what a solicitor must tell the client. A solicitor who does not abide by the regulations runs the risk of not getting paid at all, win or lose.
Conditional fee agreements have been in place since 1995 for a limited range of cases, and were extended in 1998 to include all civil cases with the exception of family proceedings. Conditional fee agreements have enabled tens of thousands of people to bring claims, which previously they could not have afforded to do. However, there were serious defects in the system, which meant that Conditional fee agreements could really only be used by people who won their cases and received damages. The Access to Justice Act corrects this injustice by providing, amongst other things, that the success fee in a conditional fee agreement, and the cost of an insurance policy taken out in an individual case, could be recovered from the losing opponent. This will leave the winning party's damages largely intact.
The details of solicitors who will act under conditional fee agreements can be found in the Community Legal Service Directory, reference copies of which are available at a number of Community Legal Services information points, such as libraries. Alternatively, you can find this information on the Community Legal Service Direct website
You can also contact any solicitors' firm to find out whether they accept cases on a conditional fee agreement basis.
Whether a solicitor or insurer accepts the case on a conditional fee basis, or any other of the options of funding, has to be a matter for each individual firm, having considered the merits of the case and its likely outcome. A solicitor would have to be satisfied that prospects of success are sufficient. A solicitor can advise you on the merits of your case and whether he or she is prepared to take the case under any of the options available. Different solicitors may have different opinions and it is wise to 'shop around' and speak to a number of solicitors.
If you win your case, either at court or in a settlement before trial, you will usually recover damages and your solicitor will recover his or her costs from the other side. Since 1 April 2000, the losing party has to pay the success fee on the winning party's costs, leaving the damages won intact.
If your case is not fully successful and the success fee is not recovered in full from the opponent, you may have to pay some or all of the success fee out of your damages. Your solicitor will be able to advise you what sums are payable in this situation.