Without doubt the end of legal aid, which was abolished in 2000, for the great majority of personal injury claims, left those who wished to pursue compensation claims with little option but to find an alternative avenue of support which they did in spades with the introduction of the conditional fee arrangement. This became popularly known as “No Win No Fee” but this was a misconception that was held by many. The conditional fee arrangement system or CFA worked when the solicitor who was acting for them would take on the case if he considered that there was a good likelihood of success, for an agreed fee, usually an aftermarket insurance premium. If they won their claim, the solicitor acting for them earns their fee and usually a success fee (bonus) from the opposing party, typically an insurance company. The winning party bringing the action should also keep 100% of any compensation sum awarded to them!

Following a legal review of the country’s civil justice system headed by Lord Justice Jackson, new proposals from the judge recommend that lawyers should be paid out by the winning side, with success fees capped at 25 per cent of the total payout. This it is believed will have an enormous effect on the number of libel cases, many of them spurious, being claimed in some quarters as freedom of speech. Now under the new proposals, celebrities who win claims against newspapers and magazines for example would be forced to pay lawyers’ fees from their pay-out, making many of them consider whether the principle of free speech is really worth trying to defend when it severely affects any payout and even leave you out of pocket.

Because the new proposals will require primary legislation the Justice Secretary Jack Straw and his opposite number Dominic Grieve on the opposition benches are considering these so it will be some time before any of the proposals come into effect. However it is believed that legislation in some form or another, based on the proposals, will come into being and the end of the road along the lines of No Win No Fee is almost certain to hit the buffers.