How Conditional Fees Work

During The Court Proceedings

• You do not have to pay any of our professional fees.
  
  
• You may have to pay the disbursements involved in bringing the court proceedings; these include court fees, photocopying and courier charges, and witness and other such expenses.
  
  
• We have insurance available through Temple Legal Protection Limited for most defamation actions, subject to terms and conditions, and have good contacts to seek insurance for other types of cases. Under the Temple Legal Protection Limited insurance no premiums are payable until the end of the action and it covers own disbursements and the other sides costs and disbursements in the event of losing the action up to a designated limit.
  
  
• We will try to arrange that, where appropriate, a suitable barrister acts for you also under a CFA. However, if we are unable to do this you must pay the fees of any barrister instructed; we will obtain your agreement to this first.

If You Win The Court Proceedings

• You will be primarily responsible for paying our professional fees; most of these, however, are likely to be recoverable from the losing party.
  
  
• You are likely to recover most of the disbursements of bringing the proceedings that you have paid, and any insurance premium, from the losing party.
  
  
• We are entitled to a "success fee", which is calculated as a percentage of our professional fees. As with our professional fees, you are primarily responsible for paying this but most of the success fee is likely to be recoverable from the losing party.
  
  
• If you have taken out an insurance policy with Temple Legal Protection Limited, the premiums for the policy will become payable. However, reasonable premiums are recoverable from the losing party as part of the costs of the litigation.

If You Lose The Court Proceedings

• You will not have to pay any of our professional fees or Counsel's fees if Counsel is also acting under a CFA.
  
  
• You continue to be responsible for the disbursements of the proceedings as set out above. However, if you have taken out insurance which covers your own disbursements, such as with Temple Legal Protection Limited, these may be recoverable from the insurer.
  
  
• You are likely to be responsible for paying your opponent's legal costs and disbursements, which may be considerable. However, if you have taken out insurance, subject to terms and conditions these costs and disbursements will be paid by the insurer up to the amount of the insurance taken out. You will remain responsible for any balance due over and above the insurance. If the insurance policy is with Temple Legal Protection Limited the insurance premiums are self insured so that there is nothing to pay in this respect.
  

The above is intended to be a summary only of the position. Should we agree to enter into a conditional fee arrangement we will explain the position in full to you prior to signing the agreement.

New Case?

If you have a defamation or other media related case that you would like us to consider taking on under our Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) scheme, please complete our New Case Enquiry Form.