Funding Your Litigation for Access to Justice

How We Can Fund Your Litigation and Ensure You Get Access to Justice

We have a professional obligation to provide you with the best information possible as to the different cost arrangements that are available so that you can make an informed decision before you start your case.  This includes discussing with you the budget for your case so that you are able to afford to fund the case.

There are different means by which your claim can be funded as follows:-

Before the Event Insurance

You may have cover under an insurance policy for your legal fees.  This can be found under your Home Insurance, Credit Cards, Motor Insurance or Business Insurance or as a standalone policy.  We can explore with you if you have such cover and if we are able to act for you under the policy.  You would usually be advised to use this insurance for your legal costs if you have such cover.

Fixed Fee

We can agree with you a fee for the advice we provide you with for a specific piece of work and the advice we provide for it.

Privately funded work

We will work for you at an agreed hourly rate, usually billing on a regular basis.  You will be provided with a written estimate at the start of the case for the costs you will be required to pay for your case up to conclusion.

Conditional Fee Agreements (No Win No Fee Agreements)

For cases involving Disputed Wills and Professional Negligence claims we may be able to offer a Conditional Fee or No Win No Fee Agreement, if your case has good prospects of success.  We would firstly need to undertake an assessment of your case for an agreed fixed fee and also obtain Counsel’s written advice to confirm your claim had good prospects of success.  These initial costs would need to be funded by you on a private basis.  If we act for you on this basis, we will only then require you to fund the expenses for the case (such as Court fees, expert fees and Counsel’s fees) unless we are able to secure litigation funding for those costs.  We would then only get paid if we succeeded in the claim. However, you would be required to pay any costs we do not recover from your opponent and also to pay a Success Fee.  The Success Fee will be stated in the Conditional Fee Agreement at the start of the case.

We do not, at present, offer no win no fee agreements for other types of claims.

After the Event Insurance

This insurance product can be applied for after the dispute has started.  This will cover you against the risk of having to pay your opponent’s costs if you lose your claim and if a Costs Order is made against you.  The cover can also cover your own disbursements and your own Counsel’s fees.  You will still be responsible for this Firm’s fees, however the case progresses and regardless of the final outcome.  You will be required to pay a premium for taking out this cover.  Payment of the premium can be deferred until the end of the claim.  The premium can also be self-insured so that should your claim be unsuccessful you would not have to pay the premium.  After the Event Insurance is an additional product that can be used in conjunction with cases funded privately or on a No Win No Fee basis.

Alternative means of funding which may be available from other legal firms:

• Public funding (formally known as Legal Aid). We do not offer any funding in this area.  Public Funding is limited in the areas for which it provides cover.  If you require Public Funding you should go to the gov.uk website which can assist you further in this area.
• Third Party Funding. There are organisations who offer this funding whereby they will fund the litigation for a share in the compensation you recover.  These are typically higher value cases which make them appealing to the Third Party Funding Organisations who will then receive a good return on their investment.
• Damage Based Agreements. This is an agreement where the Solicitors will receive a fixed percentage of the compensation which is recovered but which will only be paid if the Solicitor is successful.  These agreements have not been popular with Solicitors due to concerns over the enforceability of such agreements.
• Crowd Funding. There are organisations and platforms who can set up crowdfunding pages to raise fees for your case, typically where the claim has significant public interest to it.

We will, therefore, fully explore with you your options at the start of a case as to how best to fund the claim.