Legal Costs Terminology in Compensation Law
You’ve had an injury and you’re seeking legal advice from a compensation lawyer. You’re given a Costs Agreement from the compensation lawyer. What are the terms.
A previous blog we have shared dealt with what does “No Win No Fee” really mean.
There are some other common charges you should be aware of in a compensation claim.
If you see an ‘uplift’ fee – what is this?. In short, an uplift fee is an additional fee (usually 25%) added to professional legal fees to compensate a lawyer for the risk of taking on a ‘no win no fee’ case.
If you see charges for “care and consideration”. This type of charge can be up to 30% and is another additional fee to compensate a lawyer for work they have done in a particular case in which a lawyer may not be paid for under a scale of costs (set by the relevant Court). Care and consideration can be allowed to compensate for things done in a file particularly depending on the nature of the claim and the complexity of the issues involved.
For example, care and consideration can cover: –
- Legal research for a novel (or unique or untested) legal issue;
- For re-reading a file before a major step or milestone in your claim like a Compulsory Conference or mediation or even trial;
- For drafting or multiple drafts of complex documents/letters;
- For reviews with other legal practitioners within the same firm to discuss the way forward in your matter.
What are outlays or expenses?
Outlays or expenses are anything that the law firm is required to pay for on your behalf. For example, in a compensation claim we must obtain your medical history from your treating doctors. Those doctors will issue an invoice for us to pay on your behalf so that they can print, collate and send your medical file to us.
The biggest cost on a compensation claim is the cost of obtaining expert evidence. This usually consists of you attending with an independent specialist doctor (for example, an Orthopaedic Surgeon) to get evidence of the nature and extent of your injuries. These can be quite costly sometimes a few thousand dollars each. The law firm, in a ‘no win no fee’ arrangement pays these expenses on your behalf.
If you have an incident and you need advice on a potential compensation claim, contact our experienced compensation lawyers to discuss your matter on a no obligation basis.
Compensation Lawyers Toowong – (07) 3870 8244
Compensation Lawyers Albany Creek – (07) 3264 7692
Compensation Lawyers Noosa – (07) 5449 7500
