A leading UK specialist litigation law firm based in London and Leeds
14th Jan 2010
‘Most needy’ could be losers in proposed legal costs reform
A leading personal injury lawyer from Yorkshire has criticised proposed changes to the way legal proceedings in civil litigation cases are funded, saying the most needy victims of serious accidents could be left worse off.
Responding to the publication today (Thursday, January 14) of Lord Justice Jackson’s final report into civil litigation costs, Daniel Herman, a partner at Stewarts Law in Leeds, said proposals to make 
successful claimants pay their own legal fees from the compensation they receive would leave accident victims who need the highest levels of long-term care and support as a result of their injuries out of pocket.
successful claimants pay their own legal fees from the compensation they receive would leave accident victims who need the highest levels of long-term care and support as a result of their injuries out of pocket.In his report, Lord Justice Jackson criticises the current practice in so-called ‘no win, no fee’ personal injury cases, whereby solicitors claim fees back from the defendant when they win a case, for placing a ‘disproportionate’ financial burden on the losing party. Instead, he recommends making the claimant liable for solicitors’ success fees but raising typical compensation awards by 10 per cent in order to strike a better balance.
However, Mr Herman, a specialist in catastrophic brain and spinal injuries, said a 10 per cent increase in damages may not cover the necessarily high legal costs incurred during serious and complex cases.
“A long standing principle of personal injury law is that an injured person should be able to recover a sum which meets his or her reasonable needs both now and in the future,” he said. “In the most catastrophic personal injury cases, that means recovering from the responsible party a sum equivalent to the losses and expenses that he or she will incur in relation to earnings, care, accommodation, transport, aids and equipment, therapies, medical treatment etc.
“The multi-million pound cases that one reads about in the press are not lottery wins - they are what the injured person will need to spend over the course of their life, a life which has been severely impaired through no fault of their own.
“Lord Justice Jackson's suggestion that claimants should pay their lawyers a success fee out of their damages means, inevitably, that claimant's would be under-compensated. The proposal to increase awards for pain and suffering by 10 per cent would make little difference. The biggest current awards for pain and suffering are in the region of £250,000. Under the proposed system, that would be increased to £275,000. However, the success fee payable to the lawyer would almost certainly be more than £25,000 and so the injured party would be a net loser.
“Whilst this proposed scheme may work for those with minor injuries, those with catastrophic life-changing injuries could be considerably worse off.”
Mr Herman added that proposals to cap lawyers’ success fees could make it more difficult for the most seriously injured accident victims involved in the most complex cases to find legal representation as many firms would be more reluctant to take on the risk.
Ends
Issued on behalf of Stewarts Law LLP, www.stewartslaw.com, by Nexnet PR, 8 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS, www.nexnet.co.uk. For further information call Nexnet on 0113 247 0029 or email paul.newham@nexnet.co.uk or joanne.mead@nexnet.co.uk.
Notes to editors
Stewarts Law is one of the leading specialist litigation legal practices in the UK. It has top-rankings in both the Legal 500 and Chambers, the two leading guides to the legal profession worldwide, and was named Niche Firm of the Year by The Lawyer magazine in 2009.
The firm, which has offices in Leeds and London, acts for a UK and international client base focusing on high-value and complex disputes. Its Leeds office, which opened in 2003, has grown rapidly and now has dedicated teams specialising in personal injury, clinical negligence, divorce and commercial litigation and antitrust. The firm is global in its perspective and has strategic partnerships in place with law firms around the world.
For more information, visit www.stewartslaw.com.