Lord Justice Jackson's review into civil litigation costs was recently published (14 January 2010). The report makes a series of recommendations and focuses particularly on how litigation of small and medium claims will operate. One of his recommendations is that a contingency fee model should be introduced but with safeguards to avoid lawyers taking significant amounts by way of fees from the damages recovered by the Claimant.
We pride ourselves on being an entrepreneurial law firm in that, in a number of areas, we are prepared to take calculated risks for the mutual benefit of the firm and our clients. We display this entrepreneurial spirit in a number of different ways to include the wide variety of options with regard to charging/sources of funding that we offer clients involved in contentious matters. Indeed, as can be seen from our website the Commercial Litigation department at Healys offers the full range of charging/funding in addition to the traditional retainer of charging clients on a time spent basis and providing no assistance to that client in funding the legal fees thereby incurred.
We are well-versed and have and continue to act for clients on the basis of contingency fee arrangements. For example, we have recently successfully acted for a client who was unable to obtain legal representation in a professional negligence claim against his former solicitor – until, that is, he contacted us. In a claim which our client had been advised had little merit, we were able to obtain, without commencing legal proceedings (and hence on a contingency basis) damages in excess of £250,000.
However, our ability to act on behalf of clients on the basis of contingency fee arrangements is severely restricted by statute which prohibits solicitors in this jurisdiction from acting in such a way once a contentious matter becomes the subject of legal, arbitration or other types of proceedings. Thus, while we can, and do, act successfully for clients on a contingency basis where it is possible to obtain that to which the client is entitled through correspondence/negotiation and without the need for the commencement of formal proceedings, it is not always possible to achieve this without the commencement of formal proceedings.
In those instances it is not possible to continue to be retained on the basis of a contingency fee arrangement. This is in contrast with other jurisdictions such as the United States where it is a common form of litigation funding.
We, therefore, welcome Lord Justice Jackson's proposals to relax the rules with regard to contingency fee arrangements to allow them for those disputes that become the subject of formal proceedings.
If you require any further information about funding litigation, please contact Robert Johnson in Healys' London office on 020 7822 4106, e-mail robert.johnson@healys.com
Robert Johnson
22 January 2010
