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Conditional Fee Agreements - Courts & Legal Services Act 1990 & Access to Justice Act 1999

Solicitor can agree to take no fee, or a reduced fee if they lose, and raise their fee by an agreed percentage if they win (maximum of double usual fee).

Extra fee is called the ‘uplift’ or ‘success fee’.

Loser pays winner’s costs and the uplift and if the court orders the insurance premium. Also if insurance has been taken out.

Access to Justice Act 1999 – conditional fee available for all cases except medical negligence.

Since LASPO 2012 - the success fee for conditional fee agreements is no longer recoverable from the losing party, except for privacy, defamation and insolvency claims.

The client will now have to pay the uplift fee themselves even if they win their case.

For personal injury cases the success fee is now capped at 25%.

For all other cases the success fee can be 100% of the lawyer’s usual fee.

The result is that conditional fee agreements will probably be used less.

Contingency fee agreements – LASPO 2012 - Under a contingency fee agreement lawyers receive a share of the successful claimant’s award of damages.

‘Contingency fee’ comes from the fact that the payment of the lawyer is contingent on the claim being successful and damages being awarded.

Before 2012 they were generally unlawful.

LASPO now allows lawyers to enter into contingency fee agreements known as damages-based agreements with their clients.

Lawyers are allowed to revive up to 25% of the damages for personal injury cases, 35% for employment cases and 50% for all other cases

  • If the defendant loses they pay the claimants’ costs, if the claimant loses each side bears their own costs.