Funding Court cases (except in the Small claims Court or most family or employment claims).

This is often the most concerning aspect for clients who do not have spare savings to use.

The normal way of funding a claim is to pay the solicitor for the work they do. The time spent is recorded and is the basis of the bill which applies an hourly rate for the person doing the work.

If you get a Costs Order against the opponent at the end of the case, then it is normally only the essential costs incurred that can be recovered. Using solicitors who stick to the essentials and apply an hourly rate that the Court will normally accept is often the only way of getting most of your costs back if you win. Using solicitors who charge more than the hourly rates the Court have said will normally be accepted or who carry out non-essential work usually results in a bigger disparity between the costs paid and costs recovered. There are numerous examples of this costing winning clients of other solicitors tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds in complex cases.

Here at Berry Redmon Gordon and Penney we charge at rates that the Courts have indicated will normally be accepted in any costs order against an unsuccessful opponent and, unless you ask us to go beyond the essentials, we will try and keep to the work that is necessary for a successful outcome whilst maximising the amount of those costs that can be recovered from an unsuccessful opponent.

No win-no fee. Technically these are called “Conditional fee Agreements”. You need the solicitors agreement to work under such an agreement and if the solicitor does not believe there is a reasonable chance of success or that the opponent can pay, they will not normally agree. To encourage solicitors to do this they can charge a “success fee” on top of any costs that can be recovered from the opponent. That can range from 5% extra for cases that are almost certain to succeed and 100% for those that are marginal. That way solicitors can afford to take on more marginal cases. Clients still have to fund the other parts of the Claim such as court fees and experts fees.

If you run out of funds part way through and cannot take the case further we will consider deferring our further fees to the end of the case if we believe you have a good chance of success and are likely to have the winnings to pay or the opponent is likely to have the funds to pay the costs. Those fees will however be due win or lose.

Legal Expenses Insurance.

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