No win, no fee , unless your solicitor wants you to pay upfront for a barrister.

maria_the_rose

I went to a local well known solicitors,  who told me that I definitely have an unfair dismissal case on the grounds of disability and,  mental health issues.
Which my employers ignored.
So  signed up for a no win no fee.
However,  they say I need a barrister because they can't represent me at the employment tribunal,  and I need to find nearly 7 000 to pay before the day of court.
I've been on universal credit,  and don't know where I'm going to get the mmoney.any advise is helpful. 

74jax

maria_the_rose said:

I went to a local well known solicitors,  who told me that I definitely have an unfair dismissal case on the grounds of disability and,  mental health issues.
Which my employers ignored.
So  signed up for a no win no fee.
However,  they say I need a barrister because they can't represent me at the employment tribunal,  and I need to find nearly 7 000 to pay before the day of court.
I've been on universal credit,  and don't know where I'm going to get the mmoney.any advise is helpful. 

Before you instructed the nowinnofee solicitor, did you try acas? Would they not represent you?  Could you try them now. 

elsien

ACAS don’t represent people at tribunals, it’s not part of their remit. 

You need to check the t&c that you signed up to. Some no win no fee solicitors include the barrister costs, others do not. That should have been explained to you as part of the discussion. 

If it wasn’t made clear, you may have caused to complain however unless you change solicitor which may incur costs for work already done, if you can’t pay then that limits your options a lot. 

Do you have legal expenses cover on your household insurance.
if not, there are these people but you need to have a very good reason why you can’t represent yourself:
https://weareadvocate.org.uk/

Are you in a union? They would normally be able to support, but that may also depend on what’s happened with your solicitor and how far things have got. 

elsien

More possible help here:

https://www.employeerescue.co.uk/advice/employment-tribunals-and-courts/representing-yourself-in-the-employment-tribunal/

[Deleted User]

‘No win: no fee solicitors’ go for low lying fruit. They hope that a headed solicitor’s letter will ‘frighten’ the other party into settling. 

A family member had to deal with a claim on a Will. The letter he received was legally incorrect and personally insulting. He handed it over to a specialist firm of family solicitors who wrote a two page legal rebuttal of all the claims made. The ‘no win:no fee’  solicitors decided that they had easier claims to pursue.

Jillanddy

The first sign that there is something to worry about is when any solicitor tells you that you definitely have a case of anything. If the law was that simple then there wouldn't be courts or two sides to a dispute. It is untrue that solicitors can't represent someone in a tribunal. Employment tribunals are one of the few courts designed to allow just about anyone to represent you, and many solicitors do appear in tribunals. What they mean is that possibly (a) they were chancing their arm for a quick fee in the hope the employer would immediately back down and now they are not so confident, or (b) they have utterly no expertise in employment law and so now they need someone who has that experience (so you might want to consider just how accurate your original advice that you had a case is) or (c) they have some kind of agreement to refer to certain barristers so that everyone gets rich at your expense. You do realise that if it went to tribunal and you won, it is exceptionally rare that tribunals award costs so you would end up paying whether you you win or lose, and you end up paying MORE if you win? Because if you win the solicitor AND the barrister will want their cut before you see anything. And given tribunal awards are pretty low anyway in many cases, you could even owe them money after they have taken everything you have won. 

If your case is good, you can represent yourself. But you may not be able to pull out of the legal agreement with the solicitors without also now owing them fees for doing so. I think you need someone who knows what they are doing to take a careful look at that agreement you signed. Anything you get advised here could be in breach of the agreement and you could end up worse off. Can you speak to a CAB?

Undervalued

This ^^^^

Just to add, something doesn't seem quite right here. Have the solicitors said why they feel a barrister is needed?

What is their estimate of the likely award assuming you win your case?

Do you fully understand the terms of your no win no fee agreement? It is occasionally possible to be in a situation where you are actually out of pocket if you win! (Shouldn't be allowed in my view but it can happen). If you lose, providing you have given the solicitors ALL the information (including any not helpful to your case) and done as they say throughout then you should be protected form any costs if you lose.

The average tribunal award is only around £ 6 to 7K although, to be fair, certain discrimination cases can yield far more.

Manxman_in_exile

Agree 100% with Jillanddy.  The second sign that there is something to worry about is when they say they can't represent you at the ET!

As suggested, you need to get somebody like CAB to look over the NWNF paperwork to see what you have agreed to.  The problem you may have is that if you try to pull out of it now, you may still be liable to pay their fees for any work they have already done on your case, and you may also have to pay any expenses that they have already incurred on your behalf.

You need to get somebody to read the agreement with you to help you understand what you have agreed to.  (You might think that your NWNF solicitors ought to be paying upfront for counsel's fees, but I bet the NWNF agreement you have signed excludes those costs.  You need to check the small print.)

You could possibly try speaking to your solicitors and say that if they can't represent you at the ET (and you should ask them why they can't) then you want out of the agreement at no cost whatsoever to yourself.  Tell them that you would never have proceeded with the case but for them assuring you that you "definitely" had a good case.  See what they say.  If they say you can end the agreement at absolutely no cost to yourself (ie no fees for work already done and no reimbursement of expenses already incurred), then get them to put that in writing to you.

Whatever you do, make sure you don't end up owing them anything!

[EDIT:  The point Jillanddy makes about you not doing anything that might be in breach of the agreement is a very good point.  Read it again yourself to undersatand if there is anything you can't do.  I personally see no problem in approaching CAB for their advice on the NWNF agreement, but I don't know what's actually in the agreement you signed]

oh_really

Why is the solicitor not representing you at tribunal?