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Thanks for this Harrington. Is it right now that it is not possible to claim the entirety of the legal costs from the defendant? And if not would it be possible for there to be quite some shortfall that the claimant would be liable for?
I've also just got in touch with c-ams.co.uk/> to ask for a callback.
This is some really great feedback, thanks everyone very much.
JamesNorthYorkshire-
It depends what's being claimed. If an individual costs is reasonable, in terms of value and it is accepted by the defendant and claimant that this cost needed to be incurred, then it will be allowed. Certain items were, however, banned by the 2013 reforms: the recoverability of 'After the Event' (legal expenses) insurance, and success fees (essentially just an addition part of the solicitor's fee for time spent on the claim when the claim is 'won').
Legal costs are almost always in a different world to costs in any other field. It's rare for defendants to be presented with a bill by a claimant's solicitors that they expect to pay in full. There is usually negotiation, and it's standard practice for many solicitors firms to present bills to the other side that exaggerate the amount of time actually spent on the claim, and the hourly rate that the person handling it should be charging. If there's no agreement at the end of this negotiation, the claimant can start court proceedings to ask a court to decide what's fair.
If you do go down the solicitor route, make sure you deal with someone that's competent and will explain the process as much as possible.
Harrington
If making a common law claim through a solicitor, generally if you 'win', i.e. if an agreement is made to settle the claim, the claimant has a right to recover their reasonable legal costs from the defendant. It also means that if you 'lose', you could be liable for the insurer's costs in defending the claim. It's important to understand all of the ins and outs of any agreement that a solicitor want you to sign up to when they take on the claim - the 'Conditional Fee Agreement'.
Recoverable costs in personal injury claims have decreased in a few ways following reforms introduced in 2013. Some firms now operate on a 'damages based agreement' basis to make up for this shortfall, whereby you enter in to an agreement to forgoe a certain percentage of your damages settlement. In theory, this is meant to incentivise the claimant's solicitors to recover as much in damages as possible, but in practice this isn't always the case when dealing with high-frequency / (relatively) low loss claims. In any event, they should be trying to maximise damages anyway.