No Win, No Fee Arrangements – I’ve talked about this before, but I think it’s worth mentioning again.
It may sound like a good offer, but you should look carefully at the advantages and disadvantages of No Win, No Fee for your particular situation.
At Northside Lawyers we don’t offer No Win, No Fee arrangements. Yes, I see on TV that there are some lawyers who do, and you may think the benefit of these deals seems obvious – if you lose, then you don’t have to pay anything, right? Well no, this is not quite right. It is true that you do not have to pay for your legal fees if you lose, but you would still usually have to pay for the reasonable legal fees of the other party – after all, they won and you lost!
This form of advertising may suggest you pay nothing at all unless and until you win, again this isn’t necessary quite right either. It’s likely you will have to pay for certain expenditures in relation to your case as you go along, i.e. expenditures such as court fees and fees for medical reports or other expert reports. Lawyers call these ‘disbursements’ not ‘fees’.
What if you do win?
If you do win, you may also be charged an ‘uplift factor’, and no, this has nothing to do with a woman’s beauty routine. If your case is successful the No Win, No Fee lawyer can charge an additional % on top of their normal legal rate. This additional cost could be more than 25% of your legal costs!
‘No Win, No Fee’ arrangements can certainly be suitable in some circumstances, but before entering into them you should be careful to understand, and get in writing the exact arrangement and what the full costs to you could be, whether you win or lose.