Funding your own legal costs

Solicitors fees can be expensive, however timely expert advice can be very cost effective and we can offer advice and representation from solicitors with nationally recognised expertise in their areas of specialism at very competitive rates.

Typically we are asked to act for organisations in one of three situations and whilst we are flexible in our approach our starting point is as follows:

General advisory work: Where we are asked to provide advice (rather than to provide representation in court proceedings) we will either agree a fixed price for a piece of work or charge on an hourly rates basis. Our hourly rates are very competitive and reflect the fact we have significantly lower overheads than many law firms in London and Bristol. We always provide a detailed cost estimate at the start of the work, you can set benchmarks or caps on the fees we incur, and we provide a full breakdown of the work we have carried out when we present you with our final bill.

Public interest litigation for campaign groups, NGOs and small and medium-sized voluntary sector organisations: Judicial review litigation can be a very effective campaigning tool and we are committed to finding ways to fund such cases that do not unduly burden organisations with modest resources. Usually we will begin by providing you with advice on a pro bono (free) basis to discuss whether there is a case, what evidence should be collated, and how a claim might be funded. Whilst Legal Aid is only available for individuals, in some cases it may be possible to find an individual who is affected by the issue in dispute and for that person to bring a test case funded by Legal Aid. Where that it not possible we will decide whether we are prepared to act on a reduced fee basis. Unfortunately we can rarely agree to conduct a case from beginning to end on a pro bono basis like some corporate law firms with pro bono departments. However, in our experience, claims are more likely to succeed if they are conducted by lawyers who are regularly instructed in public interest litigation, rather than a team of corporate lawyers doing pro bono work in areas in which they have little day-to-day litigation experience.

Acting in court proceedings for other organisations: Our basic approach is the same as for advisory work, however we can also offer hybrid conditional fee funding (CFA) in some cases. Under a hybrid CFA we agree that if your case fails you are liable to pay some, but not all of, our legal fees (typically 50%). If your case is successful, then we recover your legal costs from your opponent at our full rates. This way we share the risks of the litigation with you. It also creates a strong financial incentive for us to win your case.

Limiting your liability for your opponent’s legal costs

The basic rule in court proceedings in England and Wales is that the loser pays the winner’s legal costs. So if you are thinking about issuing court proceedings, one of the first things we will do is quantify this risk and discuss ways of limiting your exposure to an adverse costs order.

In judicial review work this risk only arises once a court claim has been commenced. That is important because many judicial review cases are resolved successfully under the judicial review pre-action protocol. The protocol requires both sides to set out their position in writing and provide relevant disclosure before court proceedings are commenced. Many opponents reconsider or adjust their position at the protocol stage.

If your case is not resolved at the protocol stage, we will advise you of the risk, in percentage terms, of losing your case and of facing an adverse costs order if you initiate court proceedings. We will also quantify the level of that risk. Obviously the level of the costs risk is higher if your case proceeds to a contested trial than if it is rejected by the court at an early stage.

We will also talk to you about legal expenses insurance and about protective costs orders:

Legal expenses insurance: LEI is a policy which is taken out to cover the risk of losing court proceedings and being ordered to pay an opponent’s costs. It is most commonly available in damages cases with high prospects of success. It is much harder to obtain for judicial review cases and when it is available the premium can be very high.

Protective costs orders: These are court orders which we apply for at the very start of the court proceedings to place a cap on the maximum amount payable to an opponent if your case fails. These orders are easiest to obtain in environmental cases. In such cases the courts are currently setting the cap at around £5,000. Protective costs order can also be obtained in some other types of public interest litigation. We will discuss the potential for a protective costs order at the outset of your case.

For more information about funding issues please ask to speak to a member of our team.