Before you start a claim we will discuss with you the many ways there are of funding your case.

The Basic Position:-

You are primarily liable once you have instructed this firm for all of the costs we incur. These are in accordance with our Terms and Conditions which are subject to change from time to time. You must however also bear in mind that in litigation it is the usual rule that the losing party pays the winning party’s reasonable costs (this rule has traditionally not been applied in family and employment cases but is now increasingly being applied). Whilst that means if you are successful with your claim you may recover some of your costs from your opponent it is rare that all costs are recovered and it is possible if you are unsuccessful with your claim that you will be made responsible for paying some or all of your opponent’s costs.

Sanders Witherspoon LLP will give you their best estimate of the likely costs at the outset of the matter and will discuss with you the ways of funding your claim.

The Traditional Private Client Retainer:-

It may be that you would prefer to pay for work as it is conducted. Traditionally Solicitors will charge as the matter progresses and will ask for sums on account of costs, billing at regular intervals to ensure that the cost of litigation is spread throughout a case.

The costs incurred are split between hourly expense rates (known as basic costs) and disbursements (which are the sums that we pay to other parties such as barristers, doctors, courts, etc. on Clients’ behalf).

We will seek to agree with you what frequency of billing is most suitable to you. However, we will commonly invoice at convenient junctures approximately every three to six months.

Legal Expenses’ Insurance:-

There are two types of insurance that may assist you with bringing your claim. These are called Before the Event Insurance (B.T.E.) and After the Event Insurance (A.T.E.).

You may well have as part of your Household Policy or your membership of organisations such as the A.A, or with your Bank Account insurance to cover your legal costs. Before instructing Sanders Witherspoon LLP you should check your insurance as it is common that strict time limits apply for making claims for cover. If you are covered by insurance it may be that your Insurance Company would prefer to use their own Solicitors to assist you but if Court proceedings are necessary you would usually have freedom to choose whichever firm of Solicitors you wished. Insurers, commonly, will extend the cover to allow you to instruct firms not upon their Panel.

After the Event Insurance is always recommended by Sanders Witherspoon LLP whether you are dealing with the case under a traditionally private client retainer or a Conditional Fee Arrangement where no other insurance exists.   This will protect you against legal costs in the event you are unsuccessful with your claim. We are happy to discuss with you how After the Event Insurance can be obtained and put you in contact with bodies providing it, should you need to purchase this.

Trade Union Funding:-

If you are a member of a Trade Union it may well be that that Unionprovides you with Legal Protection Insurance although they tend to limit the number of Solicitors authorised to act on their members’ behalf to a limited panel of approved Solicitors.

Conditional Fee Arrangements:-

These are formal Agreements between Sanders Witherspoon LLP and their Clients that must be in writing and will set out an arrangement whereby if we successfully pursue your claim you will agree to meet additional costs over and above the rate usually charged to our private Clients. This additional sum is called a “success fee”. It is usually expressed as a percentage and commonly ranges from 20% to 100% depending upon the risk involved in your case.

These Schemes are commonly called No Win No Fee Schemes although it will depend upon the risk involved with a particular case as to whether an initial enquiry fee would be charged. Success fees are commonly met by the opponent, which would leave you in a position where all of your costs have been met.

If your case is suitable for a Conditional Fee Arrangement we will discuss all options of funding with you and agree terms with you.

Legal Aid:-

Sanders Witherspoon LLP currently do not undertake legal aid work in the Civil or Family Sector although we do undertake publicly-funded work in our Criminal Department. If you qualify for publicly-funded work, we will highlight this fact to you and are happy to refer you on to lawyers who undertake publicly-funded work if you wish to pursue this route.

Limitations on Costs Recovery:-

It is important to remember at the outset that there are certain types of cases where the costs that you can recover from the opponent are limited. These include certain road traffic cases where there are limits upon recoverable costs where damages are below certain limits (currently £10,000.00.) in road traffic accident cases and where cases are referred to the fast track (whose limit is currently £25,000.00.). Also if matters are referred to the small claims track (where the limit is currently £5,000.00. in most cases) very limited costs are recovered and it is not unusual for there to be no Order for costs.

Sanders Witherspoon LLP will try to help you through this potential minefield to ensure that costs of funding a legal action do not prevent a satisfactory outcome being achieved.