Of course – why not?
Although I can’t speak for all law firms, the no win, no fee was designed to allow people the opportunity to make a claim without having the worry of having to pay a heavy legal bill if things don’t turn out right.
It really should do what it says on the tin. I know ours does! But some people still worry themselves unnecessarily, so here’s a little advice on the subject
Who pays if the claim loses?
Thankfully, not you. That’s the whole idea of a no win, no fee agreement. Unfortunately, no one pays us, so we do lose money on cases we don’t win. But that’s our business decision to make. We only ever take on a claim on a no win, no fee basis if we think there is a good enough chance of winning the case.
We can simply write off our legal fees if the case doesn’t win, and for many claims, it doesn’t cost us a great deal to do some investigation.
I’m still worried – are there any hidden costs or charges?
Some law firms may do this, but we don’t. Our no win, no fee is a genuine agreement and it means that you pay nothing if the claim loses. You must of course abide by the terms of the agreement – if you were to bring a fraudulent claim and that is why we lost, we don’t offer the no win, no fee protection.
I’m sure you can appreciate that this is for fairly obvious reasons.
I still don’t trust it – I’m scared of being charged!
Again, I can’t speak for all law firms, but what I can do is provide you with an insight as to why you shouldn’t be worried at all.
Firstly, most law firms record telephone calls – so if anyone tried to lie to you, there should be evidence of this.
Secondly, law firms are regulated (very heavily!) by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and there are redress options with the Legal Ombudsman. If anyone tried to pull a fast one with you, there are independent organisations who are there to help you.
To be honest, you should allow a relationship of trust to be formed between you and your lawyer. Contrary to some people’s belief, law firms are not here to try and ‘screw people over’ – we have a duty that is bound in law to act in your best interests as a client. The principles of law say we must, and we proudly uphold this.
So stop worrying, get a great lawyer (hopefully us!), and make your claim and hopefully get yourself a settlement of compensation for what’s happened!
