Conditional fee arrangements or “no-win no fee” claims

MWR deal with thousands of claims on a "no win-no fee" basis every year and can guide you through the complex process at the start of your claim. Usually, we will see you in your own home in order to explain the “Conditional Fee Agreement” (CFA) to you personally. You will soon see why clients value this service so much!

Under the Solicitors Regulation Authority Rules, we must make sure that you have the appropriate form of funding your personal injury claim for your own particular circumstances. Legal Aid for most personal injury claims is no longer available.

COSTS IN GENERAL
It is important that you are aware of what could happen in the event that the other side has a claim against you, if the claim is lost, and what you may have to pay if the case is won. 

  • the basic starting position is that you are liable for our costs.  This is why the funding of the claim is extremely important.  The law states that we cannot recover costs from our opponent unless we already have an agreement with you for payment;
  • if the case is won, we would be able to claim the costs of the case from your opponents, as long as the value of the claim is above the “Small Claims Track” limit;
  • if the case is lost, you would be responsible for any costs incurred by your opponent’s solicitors, but not our own costs;

FUNDING OPTIONS
At the outset, our professional rules require us to consider whether you have any other funding available to you.  For this reason, we will always ask you about all insurance policies held by you or any member of your household.  This does not necessarily mean that any other insurance has to be used to fund your claim since it may not be appropriate, and it may carry an excess which you would not otherwise have to pay.

CFA INSURANCE
“After-the-Event” insurance policies are available which cover you if the case is lost or if the court decides that you must pay costs to your opponent along the way.  We have arrangements with 2 insurance companies and so in a case funded by a "no win-no fee" agreement, we can arrange this insurance cover quickly and easily on your behalf.  The premiums are not payable at the outset.  They are only due at the end of the case and no interest is charged for this deferment. 

In a losing case, the premium is not payable at all.  In a winning case, we expect your opponent to pay it.

In this way, if you have a Conditional Fee Agreement with an After-the-Event policy, you should be completely covered with nothing to pay at all, win or lose.

PERSONAL SERVICE
As professionals, our governing body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority requires us to provide certain information verbally as well as in writing to every client at the start of the claim.  This, together with the insurance checks referred to above make the procedure involved complicated, and this is why we will always offer to meet with you so that we can explain in person and answer any questions you may have there and then. 99 per cent of our clients take up this service, no matter where they are in the country.

As you can see, with MWR, we keep it as simple and as straightforward as possible so that you always know where you stand.  If you have any queries about Conditional Fee Agreements or "no win-no fee" funding in general, please contact our Accident Claims team.