The potential liability for legal fees, and threat of having to pay the other parties’ costs, are rarely proactively considered in a company’s yearly budget. As a result, it can be difficult to ensure adequate funding is available at short notice, should such a situation arise – and also to predict the detrimental effect they can have on the balance sheet.

All too often these key considerations for businesses are not taken into account when law firms are estimating their fees. This is further compounded by the fact that frequently the options put forward are simply hourly rates depending on the work involved.

There are in fact a suite of potential ways to budget for and fund legal costs, depending on the needs of each business. Very often the risks associated with loss can be insured against, and funds can be deferred or incurred depending on whether an agreed result is achieved.

We can offer clients a variety of charging and payment options, such as:

• Private funding
• Set or capped fees for agreed specific works, irrespective of then how long the work then takes
• Full-cost conditional fee agreements, also known as ‘No Win No Fee’
• Hybrid conditional fee agreements, allowing only a smaller percentage of our fees to be paid, with the balance being paid only once the agreed definition of ‘success’ has been achieved, also known as ‘No Win Reduced Fee’
• Third party litigation funding.

Our aim is to ensure that your business understands the cost and risk profile of a potential dispute, and the variety of methods available when it comes to funding your case. We’ll also make sure that whichever method you choose is bespoke to your business needs.