Fight your corner
It is natural now for businesses to be wary about bringing a claim against someone who has done them wrong, such is the risk of having to pay court fees and lawyers’ costs. Gemma Carson, a partner at law firm Wright Hassall and head of their Commercial Litigation team, explains the support that is available to you.
Businesses now find opponents more willing to play it tough, daring them to issue court proceedings. Unfortunately, even disputes with a good chance of winning are going unheard, damaging the success of UK businesses.
But some law firms are tipping the balance back in favour of the claimant.
“If a business has a claim, against an opponent with the means to pay, law firms with specialist commercial dispute resolution expertise and more importantly funding prowess will find a funding solution for the case to get it off the shelf and its value realised,” explained Gemma. “The basic principle for clients to focus on is that the less the claimant invests financially in the case, the less they will get back when the case is won.
“Importantly, with the right funding in place, if the case is lost, the business may have outlaid little or nothing and their liability for any costs of their opponent are covered in full.
“So, a potential claimant has to ask themselves; do my lawyers know what they’re doing and how much will I invest in fighting this case?”
For a claim to have prospects of success, it must contain all the ingredients required to establish a legal claim.
Lawyers that specialise in litigation not only have expertise in the court process but are also specialist negotiators and problem solvers – their early input in a business disagreement will often deliver a resolution more quickly.
The right law firm will be creative in their approach to problem solving, considering the practical options available to assess if a resolution can be reached without the need to go to court.
In terms of funding the dispute, the right law firm should be well-versed in the range of funding products available to you and be able to distil the wealth of information into easy to understand options for you.
Achieving a financial benefit for the claimant client should be their primary concern, not just winning the case at trial and disregarding how the costs incurred impact the client.
There are different costs that claimants will need to consider, with different products available to address each one. Detailed guides covering the various funding options will be available from most law firms, but in brief, the costs are:
- Your own lawyer’s costs. One option is to enter into a conditional fee agreement, where some or all of the costs are only payable if you are successful and your lawyers share at least some of the risk with you.
- Your own expenses. Often referred to as ‘disbursements’, these are things like court fees, barristers’ fees and experts’ fees.
- Your opponent’s costs and expenses. If your claim is unsuccessful you are likely to be ordered to pay at least some of your opponent’s costs.
There are lots of products available, in addition to those mentioned above. If your claim is suitable for funding, it is usual for your lawyers to go to the market to obtain funding proposals on your behalf.
Where the payment of costs depends on a successful outcome, there will of course be more to pay if you are successful, to balance the risk of that fee being lost.
A third-party funder will charge a fee which is usually calculated as a percentage of the damages awarded or the monies invested. After-the-event insurance will attract a premium, however, these costs can sometimes be deferred until conclusion of the case to assist the claimant in meeting these liabilities.
Whilst there is a cost to funding, the benefit is being able to hedge the risk and limit it. Claimants that use funding products may receive less of their claim overall, but it enables them to limit the potential liability they would otherwise be exposed to if they lose.
For their full range of services provided by Wright Hassall please visit wrighthassall.co.uk
