Beyond the Slogan: Ten Cost Questions to Put to a Serious Injury Solicitor Before Instructing Them

Most serious injury firms advertise on the same three words. No win, no fee has become shorthand for a conditional fee agreement, and a conditional fee agreement is a mechanism for shifting risk — not a statement about what a claim will cost. Two firms can both use the phrase and produce markedly different outcomes for the same case, because the detail sits in documents that clients are often asked to sign at a difficult moment.

The questions below are not a substitute for legal advice, and no two claims are identical. They are, however, the questions worth asking in writing, so that the answers can be compared side by side.

First, the underlying arrangement

A conditional fee agreement means the solicitor is paid only if the claim succeeds, with a success fee payable on top of the base costs. Disbursements — expert reports, court fees, medical records, counsel's fees — are separate again, and there is usually an insurance policy behind the arrangement to cover the risk of paying the other side's costs. Understanding that structure makes the ten questions that follow much easier to place.

Questions about the fee itself

1. What success fee will you charge, and is it fixed or staged? A staged fee rises as the case progresses. Ask for the percentages in writing, and ask whether the firm will reduce the fee if the claim settles early.

2. Which parts of my damages is the success fee calculated on? In personal injury claims there is a statutory cap on the success fee, and damages for future care and future medical expenses are excluded from the calculation. Ask the firm to work through the arithmetic on a hypothetical settlement so the effect is visible.

3. Will the success fee be taken before or after other deductions? The order of deductions matters. A fee calculated on one figure and taken from another is a different cost altogether.

Questions about disbursements

4. Which disbursements do you expect, roughly what will they cost, and is VAT included? Serious injury claims can involve substantial expert fees, particularly for neurological, orthopaedic or care evidence. Ask when each is likely to be incurred.

5. Who pays the experts and court fees if the claim does not succeed? Some firms fund disbursements themselves; others expect the client to rely on insurance or a loan arrangement. Clarify which applies to you.

6. Is there an after-the-event insurance premium, how much is it, and when is it payable? A premium may be deferred until the end of the case, and it may be recoverable from the other side in some circumstances. Ask what happens to it if the claim fails.

7. Will you recover my legal costs from the defendant's insurer, and how does that interact with deductions from my damages? In most successful claims, the other side contributes to costs. Ask how that recovery is calculated and whether it reduces what you pay.

Questions about risk and protection

8. What exactly happens if I lose? The Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting rules protect most claimants from paying the defendant's costs, but there are exceptions, including findings of fundamental dishonesty and certain strike-out situations. Ask for the exceptions in plain English.

9. What if I want to change solicitors partway through? A firm may be entitled to be paid for work done before the transfer, and this can affect a new firm's willingness to take the case on. Understanding the position at the outset is easier than discovering it later.

Questions about communication

10. Can I have the agreement, the insurance policy and a written estimate of deductions before I sign, and how often will that estimate be updated? A reputable firm will provide documents in advance, explain them without pressure, and confirm the estimate in writing as the claim progresses.

Making the comparison meaningful

Ask each firm the same ten questions and keep the answers together. A firm that answers precisely, and in writing, is telling you something about how it will communicate for the rest of the claim. A firm that answers vaguely, or treats the questions as an inconvenience, is telling you something too.

Costs are only one factor in choosing a solicitor for a serious injury claim. Experience of the specific injury, access to appropriate experts, and the quality of client care matter at least as much, and the cheapest arrangement is not automatically the best one. But the financial terms should never be a mystery. They are, after all, the part of the arrangement you are being asked to agree to before anything else happens.