Our new "Discounted Fixed Fee" Litigation Scheme

Why we have launched this

Since 1^st October 2023 most civil litigation cases valued up to £100,000 are subject to "Fixed Recoverable Costs", a mandatory regime fixing the costs that the winner can recover from the loser.

The amount of costs payable by your opponent under the Fixed Recoverable Costs regime depends on the claim value, its complexity, the stage at which it ends and various other factors. 

• For example in a building dispute allocated to the Fast Track, if the claim settles for £15,000 after a trial date has been set, the basic fixed costs that your opponent will pay in respect of your solicitor and barrister's fees are calculated at £14,155 plus VAT.
• In a complex professional negligence claim that settles for £75,000 just after exchange of witness evidence, the basic fixed costs your opponent will pay are £38,276 plus VAT.

There are some small additional amounts that are recoverable in certain circumstances, for example if you have obtained a written advice from counsel,  but essentially the total costs payable by the opponent are calculated in accordance with the fixed costs tables (Practice Direction 45). If you've clicked on the link (scroll down to table 12 for "Fast Track" litigation and table 14 for "Intermediate Track", you will have seen how complex the calculations can be, and how sometimes the recoverable amounts can be rather low. This, perhaps, is why few litigation solicitors explain the fixed costs rules properly to potential clients at the outset.

The costs that your opponent pays are fixed, even where your solicitor and barrister have charged you more. The fixed recoverable costs are set in stone (or, more literally, in Rule 45 of the Civil Procedure Rules).

So, as we have seen with a number of cases where clients have come to us with concerns over their previous solicitors' fees, it is possible to end up in a situation where, despite winning, your net financial position is worse. If you pay your solicitors £15,000 to recover £10,000, but the fixed recoverable costs are £2,500, then you are £2,500 worse off than you would have been if you had just not bothered.

Our "DiFF CFA" scheme is different

It gives you all the information that you need from the outset. No estimates, ifs, buts or blank cheques. You will know -

• Precisely how much you will pay for your case
• When you will pay it
• That your costs will be recoverable from the opponent if you win
• What success fee you can expect, depending on when the case ends

How it works

We review your case and work out what the Fixed Recoverable Costs are likely to be at each stage that the case could end. We then decide on a discount rate and a success fee %, which will each depend on the particular circumstances of your case. 

You receive a quotation for the staged costs, like this -

 The example above is based on a professional negligence claim valued at £15,000, for which we have discounted the fixed fees by 50% and applied a success fee of 33.33% on the recoverable costs, but capped at 25% of the claim value.

And that's it...

The fixed amounts you pay at each stage don't change, even if the case becomes more complex than we thought. No obligation for you to proceed with us, but complete certainty for the whole of your claim journey if you do. 

Want to know more, or have a case that you would like a fixed fee "DiFFCFA" quote for?

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