Free Legal Advice Services
NoWinNoFee.com is a claims management company that helps people claim compensation for an accident or injury that wasn't their fault
With no win no fee agreements (also known as a Conditional Fee Arrangements, or CFAs), there are no upfront legal fees, which means anyone who has been involved in an accident that wasn’t their fault can gain access to justice without any financial risk. Your solicitor only gets a fee if your claim is successful. If your claim isn't successful, you won’t pay your solicitor any legal fees.
If your case is successful, typically you will pay 25% (including VAT) of your compensation to your solicitor, although they will discuss any fees before starting your case. To ensure your claim is risk free, your solicitor may take out an insurance policy on your behalf. If you terminate the agreement, you may have to pay fees for the time already spent on your claim, or due to: lack of cooperation, misleading your solicitor, missing medical or expert examinations, or not attending court hearings.
There are some instances where you are not required to use the services of a claims management company, and are able to claim yourself, for free, directly via the relevant ombudsman/compensation scheme. These include:
- Criminal injuries: The Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (England, Wales, and Scotland) or the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme (Northern Ireland)
- Minor road accidents: The Official Injury Claim Portal
- Accidents involving uninsured drivers: The Motor Insurers' Bureau
Free Legal Advice
But, even after these consultations and after you have been advised of your options you still should not be asked to pay any money, either up front, or if you lose your accident claim. You need to ask clearly whether there are any fees up front, during or after your case whether your claim wins or loses.
Of course, there are many organisations and government funded associations set up to ensure that you get impartial advise on law related matters. Here are a few of the more popular:
The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free information and advice from over 3,000 locations across the UK including GP surgeries, hospitals, colleges, prisons and courts. Advice is available face-to-face and by telephone with home visits and email advice also available. They advise on debt, benefits, housing, legal, discrimination, employment, immigration, consumer and other problems and is available to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, disability or religion. Each Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity relying on their 20,000 volunteers who raise funds to provide these vital services. The majority of their advisers are also trained volunteers, helping people to resolve nearly 5.5 million issues every year. – https://www.citizensadvice.org.ukCall now on 0800 234 6438
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is the umbrella organisation that all Scottish citizens advice bureaux must join. They make sure that its members get the information and support that they need to help people that contact their office. This includes working with Citizens Advice in England and Wales to make sure that the information used by all bureaux and on the Adviceguide website is up to date and relevant to Scotland. They also ensure that bureaux are performing to the standards required. – http://www.cas.org.uk
AdviceUK is the UK’s largest support network for free, independent advice centres. Formed in 1979 as the Federation of Independent Advice Centres (FIAC) they offer a central hub where people can locate the services they need. They have just under 1000 organisations in membership ranging from small volunteer only services to large national advice organisations. Members are either generalist services offering advice on a range of subjects, or specialist services offering in-depth advice in one area of social-welfare law. – http://www.adviceuk.org.uk