In January this year,
the UK Legal Ombudsman had ordered lawyers to repay more than £1 million in
compensation for misleading consumers regarding the No Win No Fee confusion, or
the Conditional Fee Arrangement (CFA) used by most lawyers, solicitors and
claims handling companies.
According to
the Legal Ombudsman, it said that it “begun to see cases where the fundamental
promise, which underpins the marketing of these arrangements- that the consumer
will not have to pay for losing cases-is being broken.”
Truthfully, no
win no fee is something I’d prefer because it enabled me to reclaim refunds
from my bank without much trouble. I did not mind paying back 25%. However, most
claims handling firms now concentrate on the viability of a client’s success
rather than fulfilling their duties to represent any client in court.
The viability
of success, coupled with legal intelligence, had resulted into widespread disasters
for the insurance industry. Insurance premiums have skyrocketed in rates, deeply
affecting younger drivers applying for car and personal injury insurance.
No win no fee
can be misleading because in the end, clients will need to pay undisclosed fees.
If legal representatives will not make their statements clear to avoid hidden
costs or misleading information, then it would be better to banish no win no
fee from the legal system once and for all.
