No Win - No Fee

We have various funding options to progress cases and we will discuss those at the first interview. The main options are:-

1. Legal expenses insurance which existed prior to your accident. Some clients have cover under their home contents or motor insurance policies to cover them for legal expenses in the event that they want to make a claim against someone. These policies often provide cover for legal expenses even though the accident did not happen in the home or on the road and clients should always check the terms of their policies to see if they are covered. If so we would write to the insurance company to give them details of the accident and to request that any expenses which we cannot recover from the opponents insurers are covered by your own policy.
   
   
2. It may be possible to pay an insurance premium for a policy to protect against being found liable for your opponents costs in the event that you lose your claim. We would probably deal with your case on a no win no fee basis but you would have the added protection of not having to worry about having to pay costs to your opponent if for example you lost your court case. The premiums tend to be cheaper the sooner the policy is taken out i.e. it will be cheaper to take out a policy at the point you first instruct us compared to taking out a policy just before raising a court action. Usually the premiums are quite expensive and would only be appropriate for higher value claims.
   
   
3. No win no fee. Much of our work is carried out under a no win no fee arrangement, which basically means that if the claim is unsuccessful the client does not have to pay anything towards their legal costs. There are one or two exceptions for example if the client asks us to incur the cost of medical reports etc prior to receiving an admission of liability from the opponents then we would normally ask for payment of those reports at the time that the costs are incurred. In the event that the claim is successful we expect the opponents insurers to pay the full legal expenses in addition to any compensation payment. If the claim is settled before it has to go to court we do not make any deductions from the clients compensation unless for whatever reason we have been unable to recover the full legal expenses from the opponents. In the event that the case ends up in court we charge a success fee to reflect the risks we have incurred in running the case on a no win no fee basis in court. The success fee is a proportion of the legal bill that the opponents pay.
   
   For example if a compensation claim settles after a client has to raise a court action and:-
   1. The client is awarded £5,000 and the legal bill amounts to £1,000 We can charge a success fee of up to 25% of the legal bill which in this case would be 25% of £1,000 i.e. £250.
      
      
   2. The insurance company pay the £5000 compensation and the £1,000 legal bill but would not pay the success fee that would be deducted from the clients compensation.
      
      
   3. Less than 5% of the cases which we take on have to go anywhere near court. Full terms and conditions are set out in the speculative fee charging agreement which a client is asked to sign if we take their case on a no win no fee basis.
      
      
4. Legal aid. We provide a full legal aid service. There are two types of legal aid which a client may require:-
   
   
   1. Advice and Assistance legal aid - this is the type of legal aid that is required at the start of a case and for any work prior to going to court. We can asses whether you qualify for Advice and Assistance based on your financial circumstances. You may be asked to pay a small contribution towards advice and assistance depending on the level of income which you and any partner have on a weekly basis.
      
      
   2. Civil legal aid - this is the type of legal aid that a client would require if their case was to be pursued in court. A fuller assessment of the clients financial circumstances is undertaken by the legal aid board and they will grant civil legal aid if they are satisfied that the client qualifies:-
      
      
      1. Financially and
      2. on the basis that they have a strong enough case to run in court.
         
         
      We would supply the necessary forms and help you to complete them at the appropriate time.
      
      
5. Quantum Claims. As an alternative to the other funding options we can refer you to an organisation called Quantum Claims who can provide legal expenses cover for your own outlays e.g. costs of medical reports, witness expenses etc and they also indemnify you against any legal costs which have to be paid to your opponents in the event that you lose a court action. In return Quantum Claims will charge a percentage (currently 20% plus VAT) of your compensation in the event that you are successful with the claim. Quantum would instruct us to act as your solicitors in pursuing your claim and they would pay us an introduction fee for having referred you to them. We have to act for you on a no win no fee basis if Quantum are indemnifying you. Quantum's charges are levied only if your claim is successful but their fees are charged whether you achieve a pre court settlement or have to raise a court action to win. We will discuss the funding options with you to establish which option best suits your needs.

To contact Nicol & Co please refer to our Contact section or email enquiries@nicolclaims.co.uk