Whenever you make a claim for compensation here in the UK you need to be clear about whether you are making a genuine no win no fee claim, or whether you are agreeing to a contingency fee.
It is important, because the difference will become very apparent when you come to receive your compensation cheque at the end of the claim.
A no win no fee compensation claim means that you don’t pay a penny to your solicitor if you don’t win the case. It also means that your personal injury lawyer claims their fees back from the person who is responsible for the accident that caused your injuries in the first place. Usually of course this means claiming the money back from their insurance company, rather than the guilty party direct.
A contingency fee is different however. As with a no win no fee case, you don’t pay anything up front. Where contingency is different from a no win no fee is that under a contingency agreement, your personal injury lawyer will take a percentage of the compensation claim that you earn. This means that you will not get 100% of the compensation money that is paid out.
Contingency compensation agreements aren’t as common in the UK as they are in the USA, but you still need to be careful that when you make a claim for compensation you are using a no win no fee lawyer and that you will receive 100% of the compensation payout.
