No Win No Fee Agreements - A Simple Guide

No Win No Fee Agreements are also known as Conditional Fee Agreements and make sure that your solicitor's fees for medical negligence cases or accidental compensation claims are covered. This means that you can make a claim without having to pay fees, as if you win your case, your solicitor's fees are paid by your opponent.

Under a No Win No Fee Agreement, your solicitor will not be paid if you fail to win the case through no fault of your own. As your solicitors take a risk on winning your claim, they are entitled to receive both their basic fees (at rates set by the County Court) and a success fee (which is an additional fee for taking the risk on not being paid at all). Both these fees are recoverable from your opponent.

Listed below are five things you should know if you are contemplating hiring a solicitor through a No Win No Fee Agreement:

1. At your first interview, your solicitor can tell you whether your accident compensation claim is worth pursuing.

2. Time limitation periods apply and it is often easier investigating your compensation claim if you take early legal advice. It is therefore essential that you contact a 'no win no fee' solicitor as soon as possible after your accident or injury.

3. A number of costs are payable during a compensation case. These include disbursements, or fees incurred by your solicitor in preparing your case. Hiring a barrister and getting hold of any medical reports can be expensive, but your solicitor might delay charging you for these until the case has finished. If successful, these costs can be sought from the opposing side.

4. Evidence that is vital when putting together a claim for compensation includes medical records, contact details of any witnesses, and even a diary of the circumstances of the incident. A good no win no fee solicitor will advise you to keep a diary of events and take down notes about the events that caused your injury.

5. A good no win no fee solicitor should advise you to take out an 'after the event' insurance policy - this will give you protection by covering you against payment of costs to an opponent in the event that your claim is defeated.

Suffering an injury can often prove very traumatic. Don't miss out on the compensation you deserve. You should contact an experienced no win no fee solicitor - and the sooner you do this after your injury, the more likely you are to have a successful compensation claim.


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If you need specialist legal advice about accident compensation and medical negligence claims, contact an experienced No Win No Fee Solicitor (http://www.thenowinnofeesolicitor.co.uk). Tim Bishop is senior partner at Bonallack & Bishop, a firm of Wiltshire Accident Compensation Claim Solicitors with experience in No Win No Fee cases.