united-kingdom civil-law litigation
How much do I owe my lawyer?
<p>I'm the Plaintiff in a civil case. The Opponent has made a non-Part 36 offer of an all-inclusive settlement.</p>
<p>I have a conditional fee agreement (CFA) with my solicitor. The Client Care Letter (CCL) has a section,</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Costs you are liable to pay if you win the case</strong></p>
<p>Our base costs [... and a] success fee of 25% of base costs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My solicitor says the base fee now stands at about 80% of the offer. Adding 25% of that 80% (i.e. 20% of the total) would bring the base fee to 100% of the offer.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the CCL clarifies that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To provide as much certainty as possible, but subject to you following all advice given and complying with all the terms of our agreement, you will not receive less than 75% of the compensation received from the Opponent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On that basis, it would seem the offer should be split 75-25 in my favour.</p>
<p>On the third hand, the solicitor proposed to me in a phone call that we split the offer 50-50, and has now emailed me saying that if I accept the offer I would get 37.5%. I think the reasoning is that, since we would be settling rather than proceeding to trial, the division of the winnings is back on the table and, if we go 50-50, the 25% success fee then comes out of my half (50% of the total minus 25% of that 50% leaves 37.5%).</p>
<p>For my solicitor's position to be consistent with the CCL, I think the word 'compensation' has to be interpreted to exclude the solicitor's fee. Is that a reasonable interpretation?</p>
