Many people don’t meet the criteria for the National Redress Scheme. If this is the case, your claim would be brought under Common Law.
What legal costs do I have to pay?
The legal costs consist of two components:
- The Professional Costs for the work we do in running your case. In a Common Law claim the person or institution you are claiming against will have to pay a proportion of those costs, if you win your case. You do not have to pay our professional costs until you receive compensation from your case. If you don’t receive compensation, we don’t seek the payment of our costs – this is referred to as a conditional cost agreement or a no win no fee agreement.
- In the event your case goes to court and you lose the case, the court would order you to pay a proportion of the legal costs of the person or institution you claimed against. We provide advice to you in relation to whether you should take your case to court.
- Disbursements – This refers to money spent on obtaining the evidence, for example medical records and reports, accountant’s reports and also expenses incurred in photocopying/printing/phone. If you can pay the disbursements as they are incurred, particularly for medical reports, you will avoid incurring overdraft interest. If you win your case a percentage of the disbursements will be paid by the person or institution you claimed against. Generally, disbursements also do not become payable until you receive compensation.
If you need immediate emotional support, 24-hour telephone assistance is available through:
