The Claims for you (a trading name of Wixted & Co solicitors) website claims that they succeed in 98% of their accident claims. If true, this is an impressive success rate. However it does raise a number of issues:
1. Is this success rate not a reflection of the quality of the lawyers who work for this firm but rather a reflection of how risk adverse they are? Do they only take on cases they consider to be dead certs and wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot barge pole anything that looks as if it has the slightest chance of failure?
2. If this level of success is even remotely typical of personal injury firms, where on earth did the fixed success fee figures come from? The ready-reckoner produces a success fee of 2% where the prospects of success are 98%, but the fixed success fee for even straightforward RTAs that settle pre-trial is 12.5%.
3. For non-fixed success fee claims, what level of success fee does this firm claim? What do they argue on detailed assessment to support their success fees? Do they claim an average success fee of 2% to reflect their success rate? If any readers of the Legal Costs Blog have any recent experience, let us know.