At Denes Lawyers we represent each client on a No Win No Fee basis. This means you don’t have to pay any fees or expenses until your claim is resolved, either by way of settlement or judgment. In most cases we can cap our professional fees and can offer our clients our “25% fee cap” agreement.

What are legal costs?

The starting point is that in a legal case, we can divide legal costs into two categories. The first is “professional fees“. This is what your lawyer gets paid for doing their job. The second is “disbursements“. These are expenses your lawyer incurs on your behalf. For example, if your lawyer has to post a letter for $8.85, this postage expense is a disbursement that you will have to pay on top of your professional fees.

In “no win – no fee” agreements, you are generally not required to pay professional fees unless and until your case settles or you win at trial. Pretty straightforward so far.

However, what about disbursements? In a personal injury matter, disbursements can be significant. For example, if your injuries have to be assessed by a medical expert (they always do), this can cost $3,000 to $4,000 on average per medical expert.  (In some medical fields, experts can charge much higher fees.) Who pays for this?  At Denes Lawyers, when we agree to take on a matter on a “no win – no fee” arrangement, we do not require you to pay disbursements until settlement or judgment. There are many firms who will either ask you to pay for these expenses up front, or they will make you borrow money from a lender.

What is the average fee in a personal injury claim in Queensland?

There is a big difference between how much firms charge. In Queensland, a lawyer can’t charge more than 50% of what you get paid in the hand from the settlement.  In most cases that we accept, we can offer to cap our professional fees at 25% of your damages recovery. We can do this because we are selective in the cases we take. In some instances we are unable to accept instructions to act because even though the claim may have strong merits, the loss is not large enough to make it economically viable to run the case.

Keep in mind also, at Denes Lawyers, we do not charge uplift fees. (In Queensland, some firms charge an uplift fee, which means they automatically increase their final bill by a certain percentage.)

Why Denes Lawyers offers better value

There are 3 reasons why our No Win No Fee agreements offer great value:

• We cap our professional fees at 25% of your damages award or settlement.
• We pay all expenses. (Remember, some big firms ask you to put money into their trust account when you sign up, or require you to take out a litigation loan)
• We don’t charge uplift fees

Are there any cases or situations where the 25% fee agreement is not offered?

Yes, there are certain types of matters in which we are unable to offer this type of agreement. We do not offer this agreement in medical negligence claims. These include claims against doctors, hospitals or other allied health care providers where the allegation is that as professionals, they have breached their duty of care.

In addition, if you change solicitors after you engage us, we will not cap our fees. (We may agree to cap our fees in the reverse situation, when you already have solicitors and then want to change and engage us. However, we consider this on a case by case basis.)

We also don’t offer a 25% fee cap in Comcare claims.

Free book offer: what to expect in your injury claim