I don't know the best place to put this but from tomorrow 1 April 2013, the regulations are changing in that the "success fee" which in the past the loser has paid will now come out of the successful litigant's compo if the solicitor decides to charge it. It's restricted to a max of 25% but that may amount to quite a cut.
I've no idea if the CTC's chosen solicitors will make this charge.
Apparently, the insurance industry thinks it's great.
No win, no fee changing
Re: No win, no fee changing
That's certainly something I wasn't aware of. 
It's a result of Legislation: Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, specifically Section 44.
Up until now when your solicitor wins compensation they would also claim their own costs and a "success fee" from the loser. The "success fee" amounts to an additional charge to mitigate against the costs of cases your solicitor has lost. Remember the losers still had the benefit of "No Win, No Fee".
It's still "No Win, No Fee" but a solicitor's winners may now be paying for a "success fee" from their own compensation.
If you are considering proceeding with a claim, check the small print even more carefully from tomorrow onwards.
It's a result of Legislation: Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, specifically Section 44.
Up until now when your solicitor wins compensation they would also claim their own costs and a "success fee" from the loser. The "success fee" amounts to an additional charge to mitigate against the costs of cases your solicitor has lost. Remember the losers still had the benefit of "No Win, No Fee".
It's still "No Win, No Fee" but a solicitor's winners may now be paying for a "success fee" from their own compensation.
If you are considering proceeding with a claim, check the small print even more carefully from tomorrow onwards.
High on a cocktail of flossy teacakes and marmalade
Re: No win, no fee changing
This is a difficult problem with much of it's fault lying in human nature (interpret lying in any way you wish).
No win no fee encourages indiscriminate litigation, but without it civil justice becomes unaffordable to large sections of society, making them vulnerable exploitation. There is a balance to be struck but finding it requires the wisdom of Solomon.
No win no fee encourages indiscriminate litigation, but without it civil justice becomes unaffordable to large sections of society, making them vulnerable exploitation. There is a balance to be struck but finding it requires the wisdom of Solomon.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled - Richard Feynman
Re: No win, no fee changing
I dont think that no win no fee encourages indiscriminate litigation. The solicitors will only take on the case if they think it is very likely to win (or they would have to work for nothing!!) which if you have any belief in the Courts means that they will only take on deserving cases.
People have been known to dig into their own pockets to fight cases that no-win no-fee refused to take on.
If the success fee is dropped to 25% then logically the solicitors will now have the minimum value of a case they are willing to take on, jump to four times what it was.
Though I have the feeling that this success payment was just a "bonus" and that they can still continue to claim exorbitant fees like £150 per hour for any work that they have to do on the case.
People have been known to dig into their own pockets to fight cases that no-win no-fee refused to take on.
If the success fee is dropped to 25% then logically the solicitors will now have the minimum value of a case they are willing to take on, jump to four times what it was.
Though I have the feeling that this success payment was just a "bonus" and that they can still continue to claim exorbitant fees like £150 per hour for any work that they have to do on the case.
Yma o Hyd
Re: No win, no fee changing
meic wrote:The solicitors will only take on the case if they think it is very likely to win
Well perhaps but remember that there is a difference between the lawyers belief in their ability to win, and the realistic chance of doing so. Combine that with soliciting being one of the oldest professions...
Beware the optimism bias of lawyers.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled - Richard Feynman
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thirdcrank
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Re: No win, no fee changing
meic
I think you are right about "no win, no fee" not encouraging spurious claims - the whole idea is that it's the solicitor's own £££ at stake rather than their client's (which nobody was bothered about) or the legal aid funds (which the govt has always been keen to keep to a minimum.)
OTOH, you seem to have misunderstood the "success fee" which is not the same as legal costs. It's a sort of bonus the solicitors have awarded themselves, on top of their actual costs. I don't know too much about this except that it didn't apply when no win, no fee was first introduced, but for some reason to do with solicitors being cautious about taking on all but straight races, the success fee was introduced about 5 years later. Prior to the report which alerted me to this change, I'd only seen anything reported in connection with defamation proceedings, where the potential for success fees on top of the damages and costs were upsetting newspaper proprietors.
I think you are right about "no win, no fee" not encouraging spurious claims - the whole idea is that it's the solicitor's own £££ at stake rather than their client's (which nobody was bothered about) or the legal aid funds (which the govt has always been keen to keep to a minimum.)
OTOH, you seem to have misunderstood the "success fee" which is not the same as legal costs. It's a sort of bonus the solicitors have awarded themselves, on top of their actual costs. I don't know too much about this except that it didn't apply when no win, no fee was first introduced, but for some reason to do with solicitors being cautious about taking on all but straight races, the success fee was introduced about 5 years later. Prior to the report which alerted me to this change, I'd only seen anything reported in connection with defamation proceedings, where the potential for success fees on top of the damages and costs were upsetting newspaper proprietors.