Scoping project on no win no fee agreements in England and Wales

Moorhead, Richard Lewis, Fenn, Paul and Rickman, Neil 2009. Scoping project on no win no fee agreements in England and Wales. [Project Report]. Ministry of Justice Research Series 17/09, Crown. Available at: http://www.law.cf.ac.uk/research/pubs/repository/2...

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Abstract

This report defines work that can be carried out in relation to no win no fee agreements in employment tribunal, personal injury and media litigation cases. The authors have established that a reasonably comprehensive study of these three areas can be conducted. The study addresses questions relating to: access to justice; the process, outcomes and costs attributable to no win no fee agreements; and public interest issues, including claimant and non-claimant experiences of the system. A study of media cases is likely to be more limited than employment and personal injury cases because of the relatively small size of the media litigation market and problems in securing claimant lawyer participation. Conversely, the level of debate generated by this area would mean that it is important and worthwhile tackling the issues that arise, even if this is on a smaller scale. The study should draw on data collected at three levels: individuals in the population; individual claims; and law firms. The study will need to address no win no fee agreements and other funding systems as comparators. The authors recommend that the Legal Services Research Centre’s data on legal need are subject to further analysis. They recommend the commissioning of a bespoke survey of the general public to identify: levels of claiming in personal injury and employment cases; the experience of both claimants and non-claimants in trying to bring claims (or deciding not to bring claims); and their views on funding mechanisms they have experienced. The authors strongly advise piloting the approach to ascertain the validity of the assumptions bearing on the cost and utility of such work. They also recommend that the project includes a resource to interview media case claimants, although there is some risk that this element of the project will not be successfully completed. The authors recommend the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s (BERR’s)1 Survey of Employment Tribunal Applicants as the basis for claim-level data analysis in employment cases. In respect of personal injury claims, the authors recommend the collection and analysis of case-level administrative datasets from defendant insurers, legal expenses insurers and claimant organisations, supported where necessary by more detailed information from a random sample of case files. In relation to media claims, the authors’ assessment is that it should be possible to identify a sample of cases from defendant organisations and solicitors’ firms for a range of local and national media organisations, with a particular emphasis on local and national newspapers. Some data collection may be possible with some claimant lawyers, although this is likely to be more limited in nature and scope. In terms of firm level data, in employment cases, the authors recommend an internet-based survey and a small sample of short semi-structured telephone interviews to supplement Moorhead’s original practitioner survey. In personal injury and media cases, they recommend using a semi-structured telephone survey to collect firm-level data on their funding arrangements and risk assessment procedures. The authors recommend that any research team establishes stakeholder involvement in the research through a network of practitioners and stakeholders with whom they can engage throughout the life of the project. Towards the end of the project, the authors recommend the establishment of stakeholder forums. They would anticipate a series of (say) three seminars which disseminated preliminary findings early in 2010. Stakeholder comments from those sessions, and any subsequent communication, would then be considered in conducting more detailed and final data analysis and write-up. Detailed issues of timetabling and costs are addressed. Key decisions as to timing and scope need to be taken before the project can proceed to tendering.

Item Type:	Monograph (Project Report)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Law
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General) K Law > KD England and Wales
Publisher:	Crown
ISBN:	9781840993301
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2017 14:12
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/26189

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