Heads I win, tails you lose!

I receive more than my fair share of strange emails and messages.

This morning I received an email offering to help me raise my image on social media (nothing wrong with that) but offering to do it on a “no win, no fee” basis.

Which begs the question, in that kind of scenario, what is a win and how would you measure it?

For example, I’m typing this whilst on my way to Southampton for the cup match against West Ham.

So you may assume that a win is anything that involves us scoring at least one more goal than them.

However, given my ability (and skill) in arguing that black is white if it suits my (or my client’s) purposes, that is not necessarily the case.

A result that involves us scoring many more goals than the other side is obviously a much better win than just beating them by one goal.

A result that has us 10-0 up at half time means that the second half is likely to be much more enjoyable than one where we score 1 goal in the opening minutes and then hang on for the remainder of the match.

A result that involves lots of goals being scored by both sides means that it was a much more exciting match and so the result will be talked about more.

On the other hand, losing (albeit after a hard won battle that still demonstrates that we are a good team) leaves us free to focus on the league and not be side tracked by the cup!

David, however, just wants us to win, and doesn’t care by how much.

So winning is very much case and party specific.

Which means that when people ask for or offer a no win, no fee agreement, the devil (as always) is in the detail.  Your version of what a good result looks like might be very different from the other party’s view.  If you go into the agreement with different views and expectations, there is a more than reasonable chance that one side (or possibly both) will be disappointed.

It’s one of the reasons why we don’t offer it and I’d never accept it.

Another reason is that (in my opinion) it creates a conflict of interest.

For example, if I’m advising a client under a no win no fee agreement, and they are offered a settlement by the other side that I think it’s very fair, but my client thinks is too low, am I going to be influenced to encourage them to settle.  If they fight on, and lose, I get nothing.  If they take the deal, I get paid, but they might be accepting less than they’re entitled to.

As with all things, make sure that any agreement you enter into is well thought out and that both sides are clear on what “success” looks like and what the consequences of it are.

If in doubt, feel free to ask me to check it over for you, but please don’t be offended when I expect to be paid for the work, whether you sign the agreement or not!

Kleyman & Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  It’s a coin toss!