No win, no fee solicitors, libel and the press

Although the no win, no fee solicitors on YouClaim's panel firms generally only represent the compensation claims of people who have sustained personal injury in accidents, all within our organisation take a keen legal-philosophical interest in other kinds of no win, no fee cases, or Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) claims.

One other aspect of the UK legal system that uses CFAs is media law. Here, no win, no fee solicitors will often take on libel or defamation cases and, on behalf of claimants, seek to obtain damages from newspapers or magazines who have cast them in a false and damaging light.

Although this system has many advantages, such as allowing powerful media organisations to be held accountable for their actions while protecting the interests and reputations of individuals, there have been criticisms that the system is, in effect, "holding publishers to ransom" and heaping unnecessary costs and press freedom restrictions on smaller-scale publications.

Kerry Neilson, director of legal and public affairs with industry group PPA, propounds this view, "Media defendants have and will continue to be held to ransom unless change is made to the CFA system. The courts have recognised a "chilling effect" for freedom of expression. Self-censorship is one obvious repercussion of no win, no fee - but a massive hole in the balance sheet, even if a publisher is successful in defending a claim made against it, could lead to the closing of a magazine."

In 2008 these concerns have come to a head, with 22 media-related organisations attempting to lobby the government to change the conditional fee libel and defamation system.

Associated Newspapers are one of the 22 member groups arguing for change, their legal director Harvey Kass, called for radical measures to be taken, "The situation we are facing at the moment - the only word for it is obscene.

"You are talking about Associated Newspapers and News International- you think of the dozens of smaller publishers that cannot afford to defend claims that deserve to be defended.

"We are looking for a radical reform of the CFA system that will make defending cases more affordable. There are a number of ways of doing that - a rigorous cost-capping regime is one way.

"We are in an age where claimant lawyers are expecting to recover £700-£800 an hour. Cases that last three days on simple differences of fact can cost the best part of £1 million, bigger cases can cost many millions.

"I passionately believe in access to justice as much as I believe in Article 10 freedom of expression issues.

"We are in a situation where there is absolutely no incentive for a client to negotiate these mammoth fees with the CFA lawyer because the client is never going to be responsible for them - it is a completely false market.

"There are lots of people I believe advised by specialist counsel who would undertake this sort of work for dramatically reduced fees and still making very reasonable livings.

"You only have to look to the world's second-greatest libel forum, which is Ireland, to see that practically every case is brought, in our experience anyway, by a different firm - advised by specialist counsel, the cases are run professionally."

YouClaim the no win, no fee solicitors of choice for personal injury cases
Here at YouClaim we have many years of experience in representing the personal injury claims of people who have been injured in accidents.

On our panel firms we have no win, no fee solicitors who specialise in various types of claim, including car accidents, work accidents, holiday accidents and cases of medical negligence.

In all kinds of claim (excluding certain medical negligence cases), we never charge a single penny in legal costs or fees, protect the claimant from costs incurred by the opposing legal side, and with our no-cut commitment guarantee all successful claimants 100% compensation.

Furthermore, you can be assured of the very highest levels of professionalism, as all who work with us are governed by the benchmark standards of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

To find out more about how our expertise can give your claim the best chance of success, fill out an internet claim form, have an online chat or call us now on 0800 10 757 95.