‘NO WIN, NO FEE’ SUCCESSFULLY EXPLAINED IN THE MAYHEM ERA OF POST REGULATION

This is best book in its field for conditional fees and other ways of funding contentious litigation. I use it extensively for the courses I deliver on CFAs as continuous professional development for new and experienced practitioners alike. I welcome the new edition whilst the curious history of these agreements continues to unfold with a “u” turn on regulation in this area for clear financial reasons.

Gordon Wignall’s new third edition is timely and provides a highly detailed and practical coverage of CFAs, and the other options for litigation funding at a time of strict fiscal control of legal aid and a very uncertain future. The challenges for conditional fees rules, now revoked in the post 2000 Regulations era, are given practical guidance treatment here, and contemporary information on success fees and ATE insurance for all very well set out.

Key background information is given to build the picture of how a CFA case is run, and CFA practice in general. All conditional fee issues which arise are well covered here, including an appreciation of recent leading authorities, the guides to current funding and what is left of the regulatory frameworks as they now exist with the code of conduct for clients.

The book has 13 chapters and is divided into three parts: Part 1 covers underlying legal principles, Part 2 covers CFA Law and Practice, and Part 3 covers ATE Insurance and other forms of funding. The 18 appendices cover the important details of constructing, running and concluding conditional fee agreements without recourse to the internet.

Wignall rightly concludes in his preface that “a malevolent word about CFAs has now been uttered by every category of person who has had to have professional dealings with them”. Yes! The sheer frustrations experienced by clients and the judiciary towards these agreements clearly comes through in this work and the authors and his team of experts are to be commended for pointing out and assessing all the pitfalls well.

Each time I present the CFA course I wonder what the future holds as the attendees raise their questions about the funding of cases and risk assessments. Wignall explains that other means of litigation funding will expand in future as the Civil Justice Council reviews various novel proposals for the future. We are still in the period where the original CFA mechanisms and constraints operate here in England and Wales although Wignall recognizes that “there will come a time…when such a detailed exegesis of the law relating to CFAs will not be necessary”. It cannot come quick enough for some.

My feedback from those attending my courses will welcome this move as explained in the book, because many see the use of the internet and email as changing the face of the CPR, with client expectations changing by the development of cost capping and other mechanisms. I hope the period of mayhem in the post regulation era ends soon rather than later as Gordon Wignall suggests- thank you for the excellent new edition. ( )