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Not all no win no fee lawyers are the same. At Law Partners, our no win, no fee guarantee goes one step further – we’ll also cover the costs we incur during your claim.
So, you’ll get more peace of mind with Australia’s largest specialist firm of no win no fee personal injury lawyers.
No win no fee guarantee.
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Over 99% success rate.
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We believe our no win, no fee, no disbursements guarantee is the best and fairest agreement in Australia. We’ll match you with a no win, no fee lawyer who specialises in claims like yours and you won’t have to pay anything unless we win. That’s peace of mind, guaranteed.
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All no win no fee lawyers will offer to run your case for you, and say you only need to pay them if you win.
But what really happens if your case is unsuccessful? Will there be anything for you to pay?
This is where no win no fee lawyers can be very different; and most lawyers’ websites provide very little detail on their no win no fee agreements.
When you choose a Law Partners no win no fee lawyer, there are no catches.
But with some no win no fee lawyers, you still have to pay if they’re unsuccessful with your case.
This is because their agreements cover their professional fees but not their costs.
There are also hidden fee traps and red flags you should watch out for.
Read on to learn about these fee traps, and how to choose the right no win no fee lawyer for your claim.
The first step in choosing the best no win no fee lawyer is to understand how they charge for their services, and what you’ll have to pay for if your claim is successful. Here’s a simple explanation of how most personal injury lawyers structure their fees in Australia.
Once your case has settled, your no win no fee lawyer will take amounts from your settlement in line with their costs agreement. These amounts are to cover their professional fees, disbursements, and barrister fees, outlined below:
Professional fees are the fees you pay to your no win no fee lawyer if they win your case. Personal injury lawyers in NSW and Victoria 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 cap their fees, then you won’t know 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:
Disbursements vary greatly depending on the complexity of your claim, but generally run into the thousands of dollars.
If your no win no fee lawyer hires a barrister for your case, the barrister’s fees will be deducted from your settlement. Barrister’s fees for personal injury claims typically range from $5,000 to $10,000.
When an offer sounds too good to be true, it’s good to approach it cautiously. If you choose the right no win no fee lawyers, it’s an excellent option that allows you to get a professional legal team working for you to run your personal injury claim and fund all the up-front costs for you. However, before you choose a lawyer, consider the following ‘fee traps’ in some no win no fee costs agreements, and how to spot them:
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’s fair and only charges interest to cover their own costs.
With Law Partners, you can be confident you won’t come across any of these fee traps. Our no win no fee agreement has established a new benchmark for fairness in personal injury law in Australia.
If your no win no fee case is unsuccessful, there are two possible outcomes, depending on which type of lawyer you chose:
At Law Partners, we win over 99% of our cases. But in the unlikely event your case is unsuccessful, you’ll have peace of mind that your costs and disbursements are covered, and you won’t be out of pocket.
If a no win no fee lawyer thinks they can’t win your case, they’re unlikely to take it on. However, just because one lawyer doesn’t think your case will succeed, doesn’t mean it’s unwinnable. So it can be worth seeking a second or even a third opinion.
Take, for example, a medical negligence claim. Medical negligence claims rely on having a medico-legal specialist who’s willing to provide a report showing how a medical professional was negligent and caused harm to the patient. So although one law firm may not be able to find an expert willing to support your claim, another firm might.
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 upfront 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:
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,
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.
Finally, avoid lawyers who charge by the hour. You should be able to talk to your lawyer at any time you need to, without fear of running up a big bill.
Medical negligence claims can be expensive to pursue, as they rely heavily on reports from medico-legal experts to confirm that negligence has occurred.
We can provide you with a specialist no win no fee medical negligence lawyer and fund these reports and all other costs for you, so there’s no up-front cost for you to pursue your claim.
You can engage a Law Partners no win no fee car accident lawyer for your NSW CTP or Victorian TAC claim without taking any financial risk.
In NSW we’ll recoup whatever legal fees we can from the 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.
We have teams of no win no fee workers compensation lawyers that specialise in NSW workers compensation and Victorian WorkCover claims.
In NSW, we’ll apply to the IRO (Independent Review Office) for funding on your behalf, and this may cover all your legal fees.
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.
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.
Yes, there are some situations where we can take on your claim at no cost to you – so you won’t have to pay any fees even if you win your case.
For example, with NSW CTP claims (claims for motor accident injuries) lawyers’ fees are regulated. Lawyers can’t charge to help you lodge your application for personal injury benefits. But if you’re disputing a CTP insurer’s decision on your claim, then in most cases you can engage one of our lawyers and the CTP insurer will pay our fees.
For NSW workers compensation claims, we’ll 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, then our no win no fee costs agreement would apply.
Law Partners is Australia’s largest specialist no win no fee personal injury firm, with 20 offices across Sydney/ NSW, Melbourne and Canberra. But you don’t have to travel to an office if you don’t want to – we can start your claim by phone or video call, or we can have one of our lawyers meet you at your home or in hospital.
Our senior lawyers will assess your case for free.
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