In the past, seeking a personal injury claim was expensive and time consuming, involving astronomical legal fees and much toing and froing in court. While this is still true in some complicated cases, for the most part personal injury claim North Easthas changed with the rise of ‘no win no fee “claims in the 1990s. How does this change of claims changed the legal profession and how can someone who has suffered a personal injury find a good lawyer?

The concept of “no win no fee” or a conditional fee agreement (CFA) was originally conceived as a way to allow applicants with little resources to access legal help without incurring a large project in the event of a loss in court . It is designed to assist claimants who fell between the categories to be rich enough to pay their own legal expenses and poor enough to qualify for legal aid. Initially only allowed for a small range of litigation in England and Wales in 1995, CFAs were soon extended to cover all civil cases, with family law is the exception. With the abolition of legal aid for personal injury, often “no win no fee” has become a route necessary to compensate claimants.

In April 2000, the Access to Justice Act came into force and changed this controversial area of ​​law, once again, giving judges the power to make the losing side bear the burden of additional costs associated with the claims of the CFA. Many personal injury lawyers charge a fee for a ‘high’ extra to allow for the possibility of losing in court and therefore no fee. This led to personal injury lawyers as a group to gain a picture like getting money because of a “compensation culture” that is perpetuated by the media. Many lawyers attribute this phenomenon to claim management companies that advertise in the media to attract customers and sell credits on the personal injury lawyers. Indeed, data from the Compensation Recovery Unit of the Department for Work and Pensions figures showed stable for compensation between the years 2000-2008, rather than the sharp increase in claims that the public believes has taken place.