No Win No Fee for Accident Claims

In the UK the legal system for the last ten years has gone through a major change with a substantial number of reforms being introduced. Probably the most significant reforms to take place involves the arrival of the no-win no fee compensation practice.

In order to make a claim for personal injury prior to the year 2000, you would have to either obtain legal aid that was very difficult or instruct a solicitor and pay the legal costs up to the point of settlement. This meant that the entire process been very expensive for many individuals and most people gave up the opportunity to claim.

With the introduction of the access to justice reforms in 1999, more accident victims had the ability to make use of the new no win no claim arrangements. In very simple terms, once these reforms were launched a solicitor specialising in personal injury work was able to provide a no-win no fee arrangements to a client instead of developing payment of legal fees upfront or on a piecemeal basis. What this meant for the individual is the fact that he or she may possess the confidence to start an insurance claim for personal injury compensation knowing that if the case was victorious the legal fees would be retrieved by the solicitor (and paid in full by the liable party) but crucially if the case failed the solicitor would agree to be in charge.

In identifying that the solicitor is going to be taking a large risk in chasing a claim without any promise of payment of any legal fee, the no-win no fee system permitted the solicitor to acquire what became known as a success fee. The success fee could be anything from 10% to 100% of net-based charges. This acted as a considerable motivator for solicitors in taking a case on as it represented a substantial bonus that could be claimed by the end of the matter.

No-win no fee claims have become a consolidated part of the English and Welsh legal system and the process has allowed thousands of accident sufferers to take claims which they would otherwise possibly have foregone. No-win no fee personal injury claims do bring in much criticism because in the eyes of for example the insurance industry, they believe that injured parties now have absolutely nothing to fear in making a claim. This is of course a large benefit for the injured party, but from an insurer point of view it would be fair to say that there has been a surge in the amount of claims many of which can be regarded as minor or frivolous.

No-win no fee as a concept is here to stay but during 2011 - 2012 there is likely to be some sweeping alterations to the system that will appease the insurance industry as well as other public bodies that have heavily criticised the personal injury market. Nevertheless it will still be possible for personal injury sufferers to create a claim for compensation as the basic components of the legal process will likely be kept.