1A.4.2 Private funding, conditional fees and other advice agencies Flashcards
What is Citizens Advice?
A charitable organisation first set up in 1939, with bureaux in most towns and cities across the country. They are staffed by both full-time employees and trained volunteers who give general advice across a wide range of issues by face-to-face contact, telephone consultations and by email and webchat.
Many Citizens Advice offices have arrangements with local solicitors who offer clinics to give advice on legal issues. The solicitors are likely to offer a cheap, or free, first advice session.
What are the main areas that Citizens Advice Bureaux help with?
- Entitlement to benefits
- Debt problems
- Consumer issues
- Housing issues
- Employment issues.
How do Law Centres help with the funding of legal cases?
Law Centres offer free, non-means tested advice to people living in their area, and advice and representation in areas where there are no or few solicitors.
There are 41 law centres across the county. They are funded by central or local government but have found it increasingly difficult to gain enough funding, despite an increasing need.
Most law centres have full-time qualified solicitors, supported by volunteers.
Give an example of a law centre
Cumbria Law Centre in Carlisle
What is pro bono work?
Pro bono work is where solicitors and barristers give free legal advice and representation to members of the public who cannot afford legal fees and do not quality for Legal Aid.
How do trade unions help with the funding of legal cases?
Trade unions usually offer their members free legal advice on a range of employment-related matters and other matters such as a personal injury in an accident outside work.
Members of a union generally pay a subscription which will cover the giving of advice and, if necessary, representation throughout a case. A union often employs full-time specialist advisers to deal with work-related issues and who will negotiate with an employer on behalf of their members.
In personal injury claims, a union will usually refer a member to a specialist lawyer and then cover the lawyer’s costs.
Unite (the largest trade union in the country) gives its members free legal advice and free legal representation for any personal injury case.
How do insurance companies help with the funding of legal cases?
Many insurance policies include cover for help with legal fees for advice and, if necessary, taking a case to court. For example:
- Vehicle insurance covers the insured for advice on claims arising from road accidents.
- A house insurance policy will cover advice and assistance if a visitor is injured on the premises.
How do charities help with the funding of legal cases?
Many charities offer some form of free specialist advice in their area of work. They will employ either trained advisors or volunteers to provide initial advice and assistance to those who contact them.
Some charities have telephone helplines offering legal advice.
Example of how charities help to fund legal cases
Shelter offers local teams who provide face-to-face advice, a telephone helpline and online chats for free advice on a range of housing issues, including homelessness, eviction, tenancy agreements, repairs and housing benefits.
Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA)
- A CFA ensures that the client only pays the solicitor if they win the case
- It will place a cap on the amount the solicitor can charge
- If the case is lost, the solicitor cannot claim any costs. Therefore, a solicitor will usually only agree a CFA if it is considered that the claim has a good chance of success – usually more than a 75% chance.
- The agreement will usually contain a ‘success fee’ clause. This is the added fee that a solicitor becomes entitled to under a CFA if their client’s case is successful.
Private funding
Anyone who can afford it can pay for legal advice from a solicitor and/or barrister.
Solicitors have offices in most towns. However, many solicitors specialise in certain areas of work, so if a person has an unusual problem, they may need to do some research to find a solicitor’s firm that can help them.
Solicitors charge an hourly fee, and it can be expensive to obtain legal advice. A solicitor will probably not be able to give a fixed fee for taking a case, as it will depend on how many hours will be spent on it, how easy the evidence is to obtain, whether a settlement could be reached or the case has to go to trial, and whether a specialist barrister will be required.
