Glossary · UK
What is Conditional Fee Agreement (No Win, No Fee)?
A legal costs arrangement where a solicitor is paid only if a case succeeds, usually via a "success fee" added to their normal charges.
Full Definition
A Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), commonly marketed as a "no win, no fee" arrangement, is a contract between a client and their solicitor under which the solicitor's fee becomes payable only if the case succeeds (or meets another agreed definition of success), and is not payable, or is significantly reduced, if it does not. Where a case does succeed, the solicitor is typically entitled to their normal base costs plus a "success fee" uplift, which in most personal injury cases is capped by law at 25% of the damages recovered for pain, suffering and past financial losses (not future losses), reflecting reforms designed to stop success fees eating too heavily into a claimant's compensation. CFAs are usually paired with After the Event (ATE) insurance, which protects the client against having to pay the other side's legal costs, and sometimes their own disbursements such as expert witness fees, if the case is lost, since a CFA on its own only protects against paying your own solicitor if you lose, not the wider financial risk of litigation. CFAs are widely used in personal injury, clinical negligence and some employment claims to allow people who could not otherwise afford legal fees upfront to pursue a claim, but the exact terms -- including what counts as "winning", any cap on the success fee, and what happens to any ATE insurance premium -- vary between firms and should always be checked carefully in the written agreement before signing.