When accidents happen at work or while driving, people usually look to get some form of work injury compensation or car accident compensation. The best way to do this is to get some help or legal advice on the best way to go about submitting a claim.
No Win No Fee Lawyers
These lawyers are commonly known in the US as Contingent Fee Lawyers and in the UK they are usually referred to No Win No Fee Solicitors. What this simply means is that any legal services that are provided to a client will only be paid if the result or the decision is favourable for the client.
How the process works
When an accident happens, a person would first detail out the events of what happened: the time and the details of what events caused the accident to occur. They would also make a note of possible witnesses. Contact numbers of the witnesses should also be written down in case you need to call on them to testify in a court of law.
A person would then approach a solicitor to create a conditional agreement. The lawyer usually will take the case knowing that if the case is lost, no payment will be given. If the outcome is favourable and the client wins, the lawyer will then be authorised to charge the usual hourly rate and a success fee rate. This will usually represents a percentage of the normal fee in the UK. In the US, it is usually a percentage of the total work accident compensation or car accident compensation that has been rewarded in favour of the customer.
Advantages
Provides a resource for people with limited resources - This service provides a great way for people who do not usually have the financial means to get legal assistance. In the past, this type of assistance was not offered as an option to the public. As a result, only the wealthy people had access to this powerful resource and because of this, the chances of them winning a case were much higher. Whenever a case needs to go to court, the chances of winning any case increase if you have the assistance of a solicitor. With the introduction of this no win no fee system, it allowed the common person with limited resources to also have access to these powerful resources.
Provides more motivation - For solicitors, this will give them more of an incentive to work harder on a given case. On a normal case, when a lawyer charges an hourly fee, it doesn't matter if the client wins the case or not, they will still be paid. With this set up, a lawyer will go into the case with the frame of mind to win. If they lose, no compensation will be awarded to them and weeks, if not months, of work will be lost.
Disadvantages
There are no guarantees - Going to court does not always mean that you will win or that lawyers will even take your case. In some situations, there are lawyers that will only take on a claim if the case is strong and if the probability of winning is high. If you bring a claim to a lawyer and they see that your case is not strong enough, they will turn you down or suggest you go to another lawyer or law firm for assistance.
You may have to pay for opponent's legal costs - If you lose your case, then you will be responsible for shouldering your opponent's legal costs that may have accumulated. There are ways to protect yourself against this and that is to take out an insurance policy to cover all costs if you should lose the case. This insurance will usually have to be paid for before the solicitor starts working on the case.
