A Conditional Fee Agreement ("CFA") offers a different way to fund litigation:-
- It is an agreement by which we agree to share the risk of the litigation with you according to the result
- If you lose, you will not be liable to pay any fees to us
- If you win, you pay our "normal" costs (although you would look to recover most of them from your opponent)
- If you win, you also pay an agreed "success fee" (in addition to our normal costs - although again you would look to recover it from your opponent)
- The success fee can be as much as 100% of the normal fee - we will assess this to reflect the risk to us, the size of the claim and the likely amount of costs
- It is important to understand that the success fee cannot be a percentage of the amount you recover if you win the claim
As an alternative to a full CFA, we may offer a partial CFA, which works in the same way except that if you lose you pay us a reduced fee.
Remember:-
- Although the success fee will be recoverable from your opponent, if you win the case, the size of the success fee is open to challenge and if we can't agree the court may assess the success fee
- If you lose under a CFA, although you won't have to pay our fees, you are still likely to be ordered to pay your opponent's costs
The advantages of a CFA are:-
- Your liability to pay costs is linked to the outcome of the case
- The CFA has to be disclosed to your opponent and the knowledge that you are in a posiiton to fight the case may encourage them to settle
- Any damages awarded to you will not be eroded by the success fee
