Key points:
- Yes, we do ‘no win, no fee’
- Most of our clients will keep at least 75% of their award
- No hourly rates. We use fixed fees.
- From day one, we’ll explain our costs to you in plain English. No surprises.
- Our law firm is paid based on results.
- We are fast. Most claims can be finalised in around 18 months
Does this sound familiar…?
Did your lawyers take a big chunk of your compensation payout for their fees? Even though your claim didn’t go to court? Did that leave a bad taste in your mouth?
How we get paid for our legal expertise
Like most legal firms working in this area, we operate on a ‘no-win, no-fee’ basis.
But this is where the similarity ends. Let’s explain.
You may have heard of cases where a child sexual assault claim has been ‘swallowed up’ by lawyers’ fees. This doesn’t happen at Kelso Lawyers. And it never will. Our Conditional Costs Agreement ensures that we will never make more money from your claim than you do, and most of our clients will keep around 75% of their award.
Our fees are deducted from the money we successfully extract from the other side. From the Catholic Church, the government or whoever. We are sure you won’t mind.
Most importantly – We never ask you for money. And we never send you a bill.
We have specifically developed a fixed-fee costs agreement for historical child abuse cases, in recognition of the fact that some cases are more complex than others and will take more of our time to resolve.
Our costs agreement takes an ‘outcome-based’ approach.
We use fixed-fees* rather than the old hourly-rate (time-costing) method. It’s better for clients and it stops lawyers ‘running up’ or padding out their fees. (It’s well accepted within the legal profession that lawyers are under constant pressure to bill their clients to the maximum).
And we’ve never had any complaints about our fees. Never, ever.
Our costs are determined by the settlement sum the client instructs us to accept, and are always in accordance with the fixed-fee sliding scale of costs set out in the agreement. The larger the compensation payment, the larger our fee; and the smaller the payment, the smaller our fee. At Kelso’s, you know right from the start how much the lawyers’ fees will be. There’s no nasty shock on settlement day.
We are paid for actually achieving a result, not for just reading your file, writing letters and emails or making phone calls. You can speak to us as often as you like; the fee is still the same. There are no hourly rates.
We think this is a refreshingly honest way for lawyers to charge for their important work.
Our cost agreement is transparent and straight-forward. There are no hidden charges. Clients understand from the beginning what they can expect to pay for our legal expertise. There are no rude shocks. No cost blow-outs or nasty surprises.
It’s simple and, most importantly, it’s fair to our clients. It’s actually the way we’d like to be charged if the shoe was on the other foot.
How long it takes to finalise a compensation claim
Every case is different, but we find that most compensation claims can be finalised in around 18 months. That’s a pretty good estimate. We ask our clients to be patient during this period because at times it can seem like time is at a standstill.
There may be some reasons why we can’t take on your case – please see this article for the reasons.
However, you can be assured that we are working tirelessly in the background to build the best possible case for compensation. This requires attention to detail and thoroughness, but it may sometimes involve delays which are beyond our control.
We will be in touch with you as your case progresses, but if you ever feel the need to talk to us, we are only a phone call away. We will always call you back.
If you currently have your claim with other lawyers and would like a free second opinion from us- get in touch today. We want to ensure you are getting the best result possible. Your claim is a major asset.
*this applies to unlitigated claims only.
