Condition Fee Research

First, the good news. Only five of forty clients interviewed who had been funded by conditional fee agreements were dissatisfied with the outcome of their cases (two on the grounds that they were unsure that their damages were adequate) and there was little evidence that solicitors gave self-interested advice. The bad news was that the clients were extremely unlikely to be able to recognise self-interested advice from solicitors if they did receive it: only one client, who had considerable legal experience, fully understood the agreement they had entered into! These are the findings of research by the University of Westminster Law School published in its report ‘Nothing to Lose?’. The research found widespread confusion among clients, including on such fundamental matters as failing to understand that solicitors were only paid if they won; how solicitors calculated success fees and that ‘no win no fee’ was a misnomer if the client had to pay the after-event insurance premium and disbursements, which could include experts’ fees.