Fees investigated

The Civil Justice Council has set up a working party, chaired by Michael Napier, to look into contingency fees.

It will examine whether fees should be capped or require judicial approval above a certain level, and will look into the possibility of partial contingency fee, or “no win, low fee”, arrangements.

It will also study the conflicting interests at play in such agreements, and how they affect the interests of the client.

“No win, no fee” arrangements allow the lawyer to take a percentage of the client’s damages if they win, on condition they take no fee at all if they lose. They are currently forbidden in civil litigation.

However, Lord Justice Jackson proposed their introduction in his civil litigation costs review, and they are included in the Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Bill.

Napier, formerly chair of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, said: “The contingency fee model recommended by Lord Justice Jackson, in his final report, was that operating in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario model is a hybrid in that costs are recovered and set off against the contingency fee—it is not a pure contingency fee arrangement like those which operate in the US, where the parties usually bear their own costs.”