Legal Costs

At Firths we understand that one of the biggest fears most people have when it comes to the legal system is – what is it going to cost? Also we understand that if you're incapacitated chances are that money is tight anyway and the last thing you should have to worry about is legal costs. So to put your mind at rest, at Firths, we do not require you to pay any money out of your own pocket at any stage. That’s right, we cover all of the expenses for you. In the law such payments are known as disbursements and include things like medical report fees paid to your doctors and court filing fees. Also at Firths we make no charge until the end of the case and then only if we have been successful. That’s right at Firths if we don’t win, you don’t pay us anything. We were one of the first firms in Australia to offer “No Win – No Pay” terms for clients. Unlike most other firms though, our terms extend not just to the charges for our time but also to expenses that we have paid out of our own pocket on your behalf. So if we don’t win you don’t even have to pay us back the money we have spent on your case. Obviously we couldn’t offer these terms unless we were confident of our ability to win cases. In fact we would have gone out of business years ago unless our success rate was very high. In fact it is over 99%.

At Firths not only do we make no charge until the end of your case and then only from the result but we also make it a priority to recover as much of your legal costs as possible from the insurance company. This maximises the amount of compensation you receive. At Firths we understand that at the end of the day the thing that matters most is the amount you receive clear to you in the hand after all expenses have been deducted. That is why at Firths we will always very carefully advise you what you would actually receive clear from any offer of settlement made by the insurance company. That way there are no nasty surprises at the end. That way you only decide to accept the offer if you are happy with the amount you have been told you will receive.

One thing we’re often asked by clients is “What percentage do you take for costs?” The answer is that we don’t take any percentage. No solicitor can because it is against the law in NSW. What we do is provide a fixed quote for our costs so that you know up front what your claim will cost. We know of no other firm that will do that. Other firms will only give you an estimate and of course their estimate is often revised upwards. With our fixed quote you will know right from the start what it is going to cost. Again no nasty surprises. This is clearly set out in our plain English fee agreement that we will provide you with at the start of your case.

At Firths we believe that peace of mind is important. That’s why we have taken the stress out of legal costs. That way we can get on with your case and you can get on with your recovery.