Many motor accident lawyers offer arrangements described as no win, no fee, but the terms aren't standard. Before you sign anything, ask for the costs terms in writing and read them closely. People in Yagoona can also start with our free, no-obligation claim check, which looks at whether your claim needs a lawyer in the first place. Plenty of CTP claims never do, and then the costs question doesn't arise.
Canterbury-Bankstown · No win, no fee explained
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Postcode: 2199
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The phrase, explained plainly
People often hear “no win, no fee” before they've decided whether they need a lawyer at all. It's worth separating the two questions. First, does your claim need legal help? Many CTP claims don't. Second, if it does, what are this lawyer's actual costs terms? The phrase answers neither question on its own, though the written terms answer the second.
The costs terms worth having in writing
Ask the lawyer to confirm in writing how their fees would be calculated if the claim succeeds, and what, if anything, you'd owe if it doesn't. Ask the same about disbursements, and about costs if you end the agreement early. Written answers let you compare lawyers fairly and avoid surprises at the end of the claim.
Keep a copy
Keep the signed agreement and every costs update with your claim papers. If a bill arrives later, you'll want to check it against the terms you agreed to.
Reading costs terms from Yagoona, by phone and online
If you were hurt on the Hume Highway or Canterbury Road, ask for an estimate of total costs as well as the fee basis. An estimate helps you check any later bill against what you agreed. Costs terms are hard to judge in a second language, and many people here grew up speaking Arabic. Ask CTP Assist on 1300 656 919 to book an interpreter for claim questions, and have a lawyer explain terms through one. Council areas such as the City of Canterbury-Bankstown play no part in what a lawyer can charge on a CTP claim. The limits are set by state regulation and apply across NSW, so compare lawyers on their written terms, not their address.
From Yagoona, the Sydney CBD is roughly 18 km away. That doesn't limit whose costs terms you can compare. Written terms can be emailed, lawyers can explain them by phone or video, and our claim check is by phone and online.
- Region
- Canterbury-Bankstown
- Postcode
- 2199
- Community languages
- Arabic
- Local government area
- City of Canterbury-Bankstown
- From the Sydney CBD
- ~18 km
Free claim check
A free claim check before any costs talk
Call (02) 7238 7379 or start online. It's free, with no obligation, so you can settle the lawyer question before any talk of costs.
Six questions worth asking about costs
A no win, no fee arrangement is only as clear as its written terms. These questions help you find out what you'd pay in each outcome. Ask them of any lawyer, and get the answers in writing.
- Is there a cooling-off period after I sign?
- What comes out of my compensation at the end, and in what order?
- Will you tell me in writing if that estimate changes?
- If the claim doesn't succeed, what would I have to pay, if anything?
- Which disbursements, such as expert reports, could I be asked to cover, and when?
- How do the CTP costs rules in the Regulation limit what you can charge?
General information, not legal advice. Costs terms differ between lawyers, and legal costs in CTP claims are regulated. Rely on the written terms you're given.
Do you need a lawyer at all?
The costs question only matters if your claim needs a lawyer, and many claims never do. Here's when legal help is often worth paying for, and when you may manage without it.
Often worth talking to a lawyer
- A settlement offer is waiting for your reply
- Fault is contested, and it decides whether damages are possible
- Your dispute is heading to the Personal Injury Commission
- Someone died in the crash and the family is considering a claim
You may not need one
- One declined request can be sorted out by sending a document you already have
- Your statutory benefits claim is accepted and payments are arriving
- SIRA's free CTP Legal Advisory Service covers your statutory benefits question
For statutory benefits questions, SIRA's free CTP Legal Advisory Service may help before any costs agreement is needed. CTP Assist on 1300 656 919 can put you in touch. Do I need a lawyer?
Not quite your situation?
- Hurt at work, or in a crash while you were working? That is usually a workers compensation claim first, which is a different scheme from CTP. Tell us what happened and we can point you to the right help. Free claim check
- For what happens when you first meet a solicitor, including the costs disclosure and agreement you receive, see the compensation solicitor page for Yagoona. Compensation solicitor in Yagoona
- If the bigger question is whether a CTP lawyer is worth it for your claim at all, the CTP lawyer page answers that first. CTP lawyer in Yagoona
Costs that may apply either way
The lawyer's professional fees are one thing. Disbursements are another. These are costs paid to others as the claim goes on, such as fees for expert reports or for obtaining records, and they can add up in a claim that needs expert evidence. Ask whether you may be asked to pay them if the claim doesn't succeed, and whether you'd pay as you go or at the end.
- Charges for obtaining records
- Filing or application fees, where they apply
- Interpreter or translation costs, if any
No win, no fee in a CTP claim
A NSW CTP claim has its own costs rules, and they apply whatever a lawyer's arrangement is called. Maximum legal costs are set by the Motor Accident Injuries Regulation and indexed each year. In a statutory benefits claim, costs are recoverable only where the Regulation or the Personal Injury Commission allows, and for some disputes they can't be recovered at all. A no win, no fee arrangement has to fit around those rules.
Some help is free to use. SIRA funds a CTP Legal Advisory Service for statutory benefits questions on accidents from 1 December 2017, reached through CTP Assist on 1300 656 919. It doesn't cover damages claims, older-scheme claims or matters already at internal review or the Personal Injury Commission. Workers compensation is a separate scheme again: in a workers compensation dispute, legal costs may be funded through the Independent Review Office's ILARS program if a grant is approved, and that program doesn't cover CTP claims.
Read next:What does a CTP lawyer cost?
Comparing costs terms
If you're speaking with more than one lawyer, compare their terms on the same points: what's payable if the claim doesn't succeed, how disbursements are treated, how fees on success are worked out, and what the estimate of total costs is. A headline label tells you little. Two arrangements both called no win, no fee can leave you in quite different positions.
Same label, different terms
A label is not a comparison. Put the written terms from each lawyer side by side and check each against the same questions before you decide.
Start with a free claim check
We don't set any lawyer's fees, and we can't tell you what a lawyer's terms would be. What we can do is check your claim for free, with no obligation, and tell you whether a lawyer is likely to help. If we connect you with one, you decide whether to go ahead after reading their costs terms. We'll also tell you if that lawyer has any connection to us.
Read next:How our claim check works
Frequently asked questions
You may, depending on the agreement. Some arrangements ask you to cover disbursements, such as expert reports or fees for records, whatever the outcome. Others treat them differently. Ask too what you'd owe if you ended the agreement before the claim finished. Ask the lawyer to set out in writing exactly what you'd owe in an unsuccessful claim, and don't sign until the answer is clear.
It's generally the kind of agreement behind a no win, no fee arrangement: one where payment of some or all of the lawyer's fees depends on a condition, usually the claim succeeding. What counts as success, and which costs are conditional, are set out in the agreement itself. Terms vary, so read it closely, ask about anything unclear, and keep a signed copy with your claim papers.
No. Many lawyers who handle motor accident claims offer arrangements described as no win, no fee, but not all do, and the terms of those who do are not the same. Some may charge in other ways for some kinds of work. Whatever a lawyer offers, ask for a written costs disclosure and read it before you agree. We don't set any lawyer's fees or terms.
Ask both for their terms in writing, then compare them on the same points: what you'd owe if you lose, how disbursements are handled, how fees are worked out on success, how success is defined and the estimate of total costs. If one set of terms is vague on any of these, ask for more detail. Take your time; a costs agreement doesn't have to be signed at the first conversation.
In some ways, yes, because CTP legal costs are regulated. The Motor Accident Injuries Regulation sets maximum costs, and those amounts are indexed every year. For statutory benefits, a lawyer's costs are paid by the insurer, and only where the Regulation or the Personal Injury Commission allows; some disputes allow none. Damages work is capped as well. Whatever arrangement a lawyer offers has to work within those limits, so ask them to explain how.
It depends on the lawyer, so ask before the conversation starts. Some lawyers may not charge for an initial discussion about a motor accident claim, and others may; don't assume either way. Our claim check is different: it's free, with no obligation, and it can tell you whether a lawyer would add anything to your claim before you have that conversation.
No win no fee lawyer: suburbs near Yagoona
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CTP Lawyer is not a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice; the independent lawyer you speak with can advise on your own situation.