Professional fees are the fees you pay to your no win no fee lawyer if they win your case. Personal injury lawyers in NSW can’t take a percentage of your compensation payment – this rule protects you from being charged large fees for very little work. 

Your no win no fee lawyer is only allowed to take fees for the services they’ve provided, through an hourly rate, or as set amounts for each of the services. However, your lawyer can cap their fees so that you know your fees can never exceed a certain percentage of your settlement.

If your lawyer doesn’t put a cap on their fees, then you won’t know what is the maximum amount they could take from your settlement. But you can still ask for an estimate, and you can ask them to update their estimate regularly to make sure there are no nasty surprises.

At Law Partners, we cap our fees so you can be confident there will be no surprises after your case settles.

Disbursements are the costs your lawyer pays when they run your case and they can make up a large part of your bill. Disbursements can be for services like:

• Medical reports
• Forensic accounting reports
• Other expert reports
• Court fees

Disbursements vary greatly depending on the complexity of your claim, but generally run into the thousands of dollars. 

Before you sign with a no win no fee lawyer, make sure you’re 100% clear on who will pay your costs if your case is unsuccessful.  Despite advertising themselves as ‘no win no fee’, some personal injury lawyers could still hit you with a large bill, even if you don’t receive any compensation.

For example, a law firm might say something like: “If you don’t win, we won’t charge you anything for our work”. What this is likely to mean is they won’t charge you for the work they’ve done, but they’ll still charge you for the costs they’ve incurred (disbursements) and barrister fees – and this can run into many thousands of dollars. So in this case the no win no fee agreement means that if your lawyer is unsuccessful, you won’t receive any compensation but you’ll still be hit with a bill to pay. 

Needless to say, no win no fee lawyers who take this approach should be avoided.

At Law Partners, we pay all your costs upfront, so you won’t be out of pocket. But some lawyers will ask you to pay upfront for expenses like the expert medical reports they need as evidence for your case, or for travel expenses or court fees.

We believe this is unfair to you, and not a true ‘no win no fee’ arrangement. 

Some no win no fee lawyers will pay the up-front costs and barrister fees for you, but then charge you excessive interest on these costs at the end of your claim. Choose a firm that is fair and only charges interest to cover their own costs.

You can start by simply looking at the lawyer’s website to see if they clearly explain their no win no fee terms. The best no win no fee lawyers will be very up front with you about their no win no fee terms.

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, look at the lawyers’ costs agreements and ask them these three questions:

• Will I have to pay for any disbursements up front?
• If you pay for my disbursements, will I have to pay excessive interest on them?
• Will I be charged for disbursements if you don’t win my case?

If the lawyer says yes to any of these questions, then you should avoid them. On the other hand, if the lawyer says no to all three questions then they’re truly confident about winning your case, to the point where they’re willing to pay the up-front costs and take on the risk for you.

You generally won’t find detailed articles about costs like this one on personal injury firms’ websites. But we believe in being completely upfront, and we pride ourselves on the fairness of our no win no fee agreement.

Choose a lawyer who specialises in your claim type and has won claims like yours. Some no win no fee lawyers will take on a range of different claims – like workers compensation claims, car accident claims and public liability claims – but the best no win no fee compensation law firms have teams that specialise in each claim type. The best no win no fee lawyers are also backed by a team of experts who will work together to get you the maximum compensation for your claim.

We have teams that specialise in each claim type, and we win over 99% of our cases. So with Law Partners, you can be confident your legal team has a strong track record of winning claims like yours.

With some law firms you may never actually get to meet with your lawyer. A lawyer who wants to meet with you face to face or is always available to talk by phone or video call will find out more about you, your injuries, and the impact your injuries have had on your life. This is the only way a lawyer can really get to know you and claim everything you’re entitled to.

At Law Partners, we ask more questions and take time to get to know you personally. It’s how we spot the things others don’t, so you get more compensation.

Medical negligence claims can be expensive to pursue, as they rely heavily on reports from medico-legal experts to confirm that negligence has occurred. That’s why we fund these reports for you.

For CTP claims in NSW, lawyers’ fees are regulated and some of your fees might be paid by the insurer. If you engage a Law Partners no win no fee car accident lawyer, you can pursue your claim without taking any financial risk. Your lawyer will recoup whatever legal fees they can from the CTP insurer, and if there are any legal fees left for you to pay, you’ll only need to pay them after you receive your compensation.

In NSW, your Law Partners workers compensation lawyer will apply to the IRO (Independent Review Office) for funding on your behalf, and this may cover all your legal fees. If you’re pursuing legal action (such as a work injury damages claim), you’ll only need to pay us if you win your claim.

If you’re making a public liability claim, it’s important to understand that in most cases you’ll be claiming against an insurer that has lawyers on its side. When you choose a Law Partners public liability lawyer, our no win no fee agreement covers your costs as well as our fees, so you can pursue your public liability claim with peace of mind.

If you’re making a TPD claim, it’s a good idea to speak to one of our no win no fee TPD lawyers before you start, to give your claim the best chance of success. Many people abandon their TPD claims when the process becomes too stressful, even though they’re entitled to a TPD payment. Law Partners has specialist TPD lawyers based in Sydney and Melbourne ready to help.

You can call 13 15 15 to have a TPD specialist review your superannuation funds/ TPD policies at no cost to you and determine what you’re eligible to claim. Then you can decide if you want to engage a no win no fee TPD lawyer to assist with your claim, and only pay them after you win.