No Win No Fee Lawyers Sydney

“No Win No Fee” (NWNF) is the consumer term for a Conditional Cost Agreement (CCA) between you and your lawyer where you both agree that you won’t need to pay their legal fees unless an agreed result has been achieved.

So when you are represented by No Win No Fee lawyers and your personal injury claim is regarded as “successful”, you will have to pay their professional fees as a result. But what qualifies as a successful claim? It depends on the definition outlined in the costs agreement you sign with your No Win No Fee lawyers. Generally, a successful claim is one where money is awarded in your favour as compensation.

On the other hand, if you are unsuccessful, your No Win No Fee arrangement means you won’t need to pay your lawyer’s professional fees. However, you will still be required to pay your lawyer’s “disbursements”; that is, charges for everything they spent money on to build your case and take legal action on your behalf. Disbursements can include interpreter fees, court fees, medical reports, expert fees, and other out-of-pocket expenses.

On top of that, if you are unsuccessful, there’s a very strong chance you would need to pay all of the other side’s legal fees and costs.

When are legal costs payable?

These charges are payable by you to your lawyer when you receive the money for your compensation at the end of a successful claim. They will be paid from the compensation you’ve been awarded from the defendant (usually an insurance company).

The compensation you receive will be calculated to include funds to cover a large proportion of your legal bill. The amount will depend on the type and nature of your claim.

As already mentioned, you are not required to pay your lawyer’s professional fees if your claim is unsuccessful.

How is the amount of legal fees calculated?

The CCA will outline how much you would have to pay in all circumstances.

The fee policy at many law firms is to charge an hourly rate; others will charge a lump sum amount agreed before the commencement of a claim.

Make sure you understand on what fee basis you will be charged before signing a CCA.

The compensation you receive from the defendant (usually an insurance company) will include a specific amount to cover most of your legal costs. That amount is generally around half to two-thirds of your lawyer’s total charges, though this can vary. The outstanding balance for your lawyer’s legal services is up to you to pay.

What happens if my claim is not successful?

If you are unsuccessful in your claim for compensation, you won’t need to pay your lawyer’s legal fees.

However, you may still be required to pay your lawyer’s disbursements; that is, the cost of things such as interpreter’s fees, court fees, medical reports, expert fees and the like. This will depend on the CCA you agreed to with your No Win No Fee solicitors.

You will almost certainly be required to pay the defendant’s legal costs.

The winner always pays the loser’s legal costs.

You should always take this potential outcome into account proceeding with any claim, even when undertaken on a No Win No Fee basis.

How will my lawyer charge legal fees?

This varies from lawyer to lawyer. Some charge an hourly rate; others will charge a lump sum amount agreed at the beginning of a claim.

If your lawyer charges an hourly rate, you need to be careful. It is common for lawyers in a compensation law firm to charge $450 to $550 per hour. And because it can be virtually impossible to know exactly how many billable hours a claim will need in advance, you have no way of knowing how much you may owe in legal fees. Even if your lawyer gives you an estimate, it can still be way off (usually higher) by the end.

At Garling & Co, we believe charging an hourly rate can create a genuine conflict of interest between a client and their lawyer. On the one hand, the client wants their claim to be simple and straightforward and completed in the quickest time possible for the best possible result. But the lawyer, who has a vested interest in being able to charge as many hours as possible, benefits from a claim that takes longer and becomes more complex.

At Garling & Co, 98% of the time, we charge a lump sum amount agreed to upfront based on the agreed value we can provide to the client. As long as we achieve the best result for the client, how long it takes isn’t relevant, though we always aim to conduct personal injury claims as quickly and efficiently as possible.

By charging a lump sum instead of an hourly rate, the clients’ and the firm’s interests are closely aligned so that we can work together to achieve the best result.

What are definitely not No Win No Fee fee arrangements?

Instead of having a direct NWNF fee arrangement with their clients, some personal injury lawyers use outside companies to fund the payment of their legal fees and disbursements. These companies would cover your lawyer’s charges while the claim is underway.

In this circumstance, your law firm would direct you to deal directly with that separate company on what appears to be a No Win No fee agreement. But your costs agreement would be between you and that private company – not your lawyers.

Be careful of such agreements and ensure you understand how you will be charged. Often these agreements have hidden costs and try to claim a percentage of what you receive as compensation. In NSW, lawyers cannot charge you a percentage of your compensation. This is known as a contingency fee and is illegal.

What is Pro Bono?

Pro Bono is legal services provided for free.

NWNF agreements are not free legal services; you are still required to pay legal costs. Payment is just conditional on the claim being successful.

Access to Justice

NWNF cost agreements make it possible for everyday Australians to get the legal support they need to get the justice they deserve.

The way the legal system is currently structured in Australia allows only the very rich or poor (who qualify for government Legal Aid help) to pursue a claim. This is because most lawyers charge an hourly rate at the end of each month, whether you win your claim or lose, and that becomes hugely expensive and requires a lot of upfront money.

The beauty of NWNF cost agreements is that they allow everyday people to get the justice they deserve but would otherwise not be able to afford.

Do you have questions about proceeding with a claim under a No Win No Fee basis? Please get in touch with us on (02) 8329 9500 or contact us at mgarling@garlingandco.com.au

*Garling Lawyers provide No Win No Fee cost agreements in most types of compensation claims, however conditions do apply.

Matthew Garling – Garling and Co 2022
Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law.

No Win No Fee Questions For Your Lawyer!

How do I know if my lawyer is any good?

Lawyers are not all the same. There are good lawyers who are smart, do the work required to get a great job for their client and charge reasonable fees. The bad ones take shortcuts, are not genuine experts and over-charge on fees.

How do you know who to trust?

There is one easy way to tell if the lawyer knows what they are doing and can be trusted.

They should be an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law as approved by the Law Society of NSW.

Only the best lawyers in their field are approved by the Law Society as Accredited Specialists. A lawyer must pass an examination process to test their knowledge of personal injury and pass a peer interview by senior lawyers.

Accredited specialists only practise in personal injury law so are up to date on the changing NSW laws.

Only those lawyers who are truly experts in their area of law are granted accreditation.

It’s the lawyer who is accredited – not the law firm!

While some law firms advertise themselves as accredited specialists in compensation law, it is important to understand that only a lawyer can get accreditation, not a law firm overall. So it’s often just their senior partner who’s accredited, while the other ten lawyers in the firm who do the day-to-day work are not accredited. They use your claim to gain experience.

Make sure the lawyer who is acting on your behalf on a day-to-day basis is an accredited specialist. If not, you do not have the best lawyer for your claim.

So, the most important question you need to ask them is this:

Is the lawyer who will be handling my case an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law?

If they’re not, change to a lawyer who is and make sure that lawyer is the one who will be doing the day-to-day legal work on your claim. This is very important and will make a huge amount of difference. It is the only way to determine if your lawyer has the necessary skills and expertise to get the best result for you. To make them easier to identify, the Law Society of New South Wales allows lawyers who are accredited to display their Accredited Specialist logo.

You have the wrong lawyer if your lawyer isn’t an Accredited Specialist.