What Is The History Behind The ‘No Win No Fee’ Concept?
In recent years, no win no fee lawyers have been portrayed in a negative light by the media. They are sometimes shown as pushy, heartless people who are always on the look out for a new personal injury case to make money out of. The sudden rise of the term ‘no win no fee’ hasn’t helped either, it seems as though you can’t go anywhere these days without being pestered about personal injury claims, whether it be on the streets, on the television or on the radio. However, the whole concept of no win no fee hasn’t always been around.
Before the whole no win no fee concept was created, people who believed that they had a valid personal injury claim they had to rely on legal aid to help them make their claim. This meant that the government had to step in and assist with the legal fees when the client could not afford to pay the fees. Then the government decided that the cost of legal aid was costing them too much and came up with the idea of no win no fee. The concept was designed to allow people who are unable to afford the legal fees involved in a compensation claim, to be able to make personal injury claims with ease.
The original concepts was that the lawyers wanting to operate under the system of no win no fee could charge up to 20% of the compensation received. This would benefit the government as they would no longer need to fork out for large legal fees. However, some lawyers thought that the idea was an unrealistic expectation for them. They argued that if they were to always operate under this capped rate of 20% then they would need to be working towards a target of winning at least five out of every six cases just to break even. This would take a lot of work, and the lawyers would also need to careful when deciding what cases they take on and which cases they rejected.
Pressure on the government from the lawyers meant that the Tory government agreed to push up the amount that lawyers can charge up to 40%. This was good news for struggling lawyers. The concept really made its way into UK society in 1998. Almost over night there was a great influx of new legal firms being set-up specifically designed to offer a no win no fee service. And the phrase ‘where there’s a blame, there’s a claim’ became part of a modern vocabulary.
There is no question that no win no fee has allowed more and more people to make personal injury claims, but are they necessarily always legitimate? For people who are making genuine personal injury claims following an accident, then no win no fee has made their lives much easier as they have been able to receive the compensation that they deserve. However, there are other people who have unfortunately tried to abuse the system by making false or inaccurate claims in order to earn themselves some extra money. Of course people who have been involved in legitimate accidents have the right to make a claim, but the question still remains: has no win no fee improved our legal service or has it encouraged pointless claims? It is not just claimants who are abusing the system; lawyers are also taking on cases that could have been settled out of court.
In order to encourage more people to settle out of court and decrease the amount of legal fees that are being paid by local councils and other authorities, the government needs to provide some sort of incentive. Without an incentive, people will continue to pursue their claims in court and via no win no fee lawyers.
If you are interested in making a no win no fee claim for compensation then contact Accident Consult for more information.
Tags: compensation claim, lawyers, legal aid, money, nbsp, personal injury case, personal injury claim, personal injury claims, radio, target, television |
