No-win, not costs free

The Law Society’s Gazette of 25 March reported a recommendation by the Legal Services Ombudsman that the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) should reconsider a matter in which the solicitors had agreed to act on a no-win, no-fee basis but commenced proceedings without having been able to obtain any after-the-event insurance. When the case was struck out, the client was ordered to pay the other side’s costs of almost £2,000 together with her own disbursements of £1,000. The Ombudsman noted that the solicitors had been very forthcoming about the potential benefits of the case, but less so about the potential costs. The OSS should evaluate whether the solicitor had been realistic when he told his client that, because he would act on a no-win, no-fee basis, she would not incur any costs.