Lawyers

Akoto

When approaching no win no fee types, or in fact lawyers in general, I have been told that they are not really interested in whether your case is strong in law or not, only whether or not they can get some compensation for you after a couple of stern letters. Fact or fiction? I say this as I have an issue and I don't want to be fobbed off by a lawyer who is concerned with only getting a 'quick' result.

dacouch

Lawyers (As is anyone) are driven by whether their fees will be paid.

If you want a no win no fee lawyer to take it on they will want to be satisfied they have a good chance of winning the case and / or securing insurance to cover their fees should they lose.

If it's a not no win no fee then whether you have a good case or not they will normally be happy to take it as long as they're happy your good for their fees.

Are you a member of a union and / or do you have home insurance as they both often include legal costs for employment disputes

MoneySavingUser

If they win they get a success fee.

If they lose their costs are covered by insurance that they ask you to take out usually.

Akoto

thanks this isnt really the question i was asking however.

I was more asking about whether lawyers are driven by the number of cases they can manage, and whether or not they will be negatively influenced by taking on board a case that is potentially very complex, lengthy and time consuming, as opposed to a case that can be resolved easily, even if, in the final analysis, it may well win.

Lets say a lawyer can handle 30 cases, which 30 are they going to go for - the ones that have good chance of winning naturally, but if their time is really pushed, surely they are going to be influenced by how easily the opponent will cave-in as well?

boobies

It varies between individual solicitors, and different firms. Some will be interested in maximising profit, some more interested in handling cases that could lead to landmark decisions. Complex legal arguments will be attractive to a good solicitor, but there has to be the substance there for them to work on.

Not all solicitors are interested in profit maximisation!

InsideInsurance

It will also vary by the size of the case. A very small case is going to have its costs capped where as a large case is basically uncapped as long as everything is "reasonable" but if the case is complex or the defendant dogged in their defense then a large amount of work will be considered reasonable.


Many of the big companies are set up like factories and there is a large consideration to through put. They would rather 100 cases earning £2,000 a case than 4 cases earning £50,000 each even though the theoretical end sum received is the same.

There are, believe it or not, some solicitor firms who are at least slightly more "principle" based but even they must on the whole consider chances of winning and fee -v- time. The ATE insurance they buy requires them to only take on cases they believe they can win and their premiums are based on their claims experience the same as everyone elses.

paddyrg

Akoto wrote: »

Lets say a lawyer can handle 30 cases, which 30 are they going to go for - the ones that have good chance of winning naturally, but if their time is really pushed, surely they are going to be influenced by how easily the opponent will cave-in as well?

The NWNF types will only bother with cases they can realistically win or bully through, of course!

The regular pay-as-you-go lawyers will take any instructions you give them, as long as you are paying. They generally like to be neutral, just your representaive through the courts, and will not want to second-guess the justices rulings.

InsideInsurance

paddyrg wrote: »

The regular pay-as-you-go lawyers will take any instructions you give them, as long as you are paying. They generally like to be neutral, just your representaive through the courts, and will not want to second-guess the justices rulings.

Outside of criminal law, which is slightly different, even a regular pay as you go solicitor should be calling out the fact you have a snowballs chance in hell of winning and at least seriously suggest to you that you will be throwing good money after bad.

If nothing else you arent going to have a good reputation nor repeat business if you're taking on tons of rubbish that others are rejecting and losing 80% of your cases.

Akoto

InsideInsurance wrote: »

It will also vary by the size of the case. A very small case is going to have its costs capped where as a large case is basically uncapped as long as everything is "reasonable" but if the case is complex or the defendant dogged in their defense then a large amount of work will be considered reasonable.


Many of the big companies are set up like factories and there is a large consideration to through put. They would rather 100 cases earning £2,000 a case than 4 cases earning £50,000 each even though the theoretical end sum received is the same.

There are, believe it or not, some solicitor firms who are at least slightly more "principle" based but even they must on the whole consider chances of winning and fee -v- time. The ATE insurance they buy requires them to only take on cases they believe they can win and their premiums are based on their claims experience the same as everyone elses.

Thank you this is what I had suspected. I guess that chances of winning are less important than time issues, but its not something that is spoken of openly.

InsideInsurance

Akoto wrote: »

Thank you this is what I had suspected. I guess that chances of winning are less important than time issues, but its not something that is spoken of openly.

The chances of winning are the most important consideration.

Time is more of a factor on low value cases because the maximum fee is capped. Of cause if it really is THAT complex the courts can be partitioned to assign it to a higher track and thus avoid or raise the cap despite its value.

In fairness this goes across the board and is by no means unique to solicitors. Many companies prefer dealing with effectively commoditised products/ solutions as with volume comes certainty.

You will find many builders would rather do 2 extensions a month for a year than one new build using hitech materials in a difficult to get to location etc even if the total values are the same. There is massively more insurance companies writing business for standard home insurance than there is for high net worth home insurance. etc

marybelle01

Akoto wrote: »

Thank you this is what I had suspected. I guess that chances of winning are less important than time issues, but its not something that is spoken of openly.

And all these expert answers you are relying on come from qualified and practicing legal staff, do they? Have you considered that "it isn't spoken of openly " because it isn't true? I would suggest that you might have better fortunes talking to some lawyers than to a bunch of people on an internet forum who may be anyone at all.