High Success Fees and Unnecessary Insurance

The Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) complains that success fees in personal injury conditional fee agreements are too high and that after-the-event insurance premiums are being paid unnecessarily. They argue that while the average success fee charged before 1 April this year was 45%, fees of 90% and 100% are now a matter of course. They also complain that after-the-event insurance policies are being taken out by solicitors when they are first instructed which is unnecessary in cases in which no proceedings are issued. There is no risk before the issue of proceedings and a premium is therefore an unjustifiable expense. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has responded that if only those cases which proceed were covered, premiums would be astronomically high.