If your claim is successful the insurers will pay a sum of money in settlement. For example for a whiplash injury they might pay £2500.
You will then receive that sum in your hand and there will be no deductions for legal costs.
When a lawyer acts on a No Win No Fee basis there are many different types of arrangement which can apply to the settlement figure.
Often the lawyer will receive instructions to proceed with a claim from a claims company or other claims organisation. The claims company may have agreed with the client that the claims company will receive a fee or percentage of the settlement figure.
The claims company will have incurred advertising and administrative costs before passing the claim to the lawyer. They may want to recover money and tell the client before the case is started that there will be a percentage deduction from the settlement figure.
The lawyer will then deduct the claim company’s share when the settlement comes in.
As an example, if the claims organisation has suggested there would be a deduction of 20% from the settlement figure and the claim settled for £2500, then the claims company would receive £500 and the balance of £2000 would go to the claimant.
Many lawyers if you instruct them directly, will also take a percentage deduction of the damages. The reason for this is that they are acting on a No Win No Fee basis and may feel they are not recovering all their costs from the insurance company.
They are also taking a risk that they might not get paid at all and they will also have to spend money actually processing the claim i.e. on medical reports. They won't get paid until the claim is finished and in these circumstances will consider that the claimant should pay something from the settlement figure, because the claimant is not taking any risk.
At Lawford Kidd if we act for you directly we will not take any deduction from the sum you recover but will accept what costs we can obtain from the insurance company.