The Jackson reforms will become implemented in April 2013. The reforms will affect your personal injury claim in relation to your legal fees. Currently many personal injury lawyers offer their clients a ‘no win no fee’ scheme. No win no fee agreements mean currently you can pursue a personal injury claim with nothing to lose, you will not have to pay legal fees if your case is not successful and you will not have to pay fees if your case is successful as your solicitor will recover them from the other side.
When litigation reforms in April you will no longer be able to make a no win no fee agreement with a law firm as it will not be possible for injury lawyers to recover their costs from the other side. Damage Based Agreements will be used meaning claimants will have to pay their solicitors fees themselves if the claim is successful but if the claim fails they will not have to pay any legal fees. Furthermore is the claim is not successful an individual will not be in a position where they have to cover the defendant’s legal costs. These reforms were initially intended to come into place in October 2012 but were pushed back six months to allow firms time to prepare for the impact they will have on their business, so make use of the extra time you have been given. Making a personal injury claim today will mean you can still take advantage of the no win no fee scheme, a scheme which massively benefits individuals who cannot afford to pay their legal fees themselves.
Changes in the law are intended to cut down on the amount lawyers can charge clients for taking their personal injury claims through court and also cut down on the amount of unnecessary claims that clutter up courtrooms across the country. Sounds sensible on paper but in practice it is going to make it a substantially more difficult decision to make about whether or not to take your claim to court. In borderline cases this extra judgment may be helpful but for individuals who have been victims of third party negligence who genuinely cannot afford to pay a lawyer’s fees but desperately deserve compensation, these reforms will make claiming a lot harder.
Ultimately the message is to make your personal injury claim as soon as possible to avoid having to pay out costs which are currently avoidable and will become unavoidable in April of next year. Contact a specialist personal injury solicitor today to make a compensation claim.
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Freeman Harris offer no win no fee agreements to all their clients and also offer a completely free enquiry service. Simply call us on 020 7231 7150 or fill in an online enquiry to begin your personal injury claim with us today.