Having personally worked on over 5,000 cases over 19 years as an Accredited Specialist, Travis Schultz understands how dealing with a legal matter can be incredibly stressful. Having your needs at heart, we want to give you a run-down on what our firm does differently, to support your journey towards resolving your case.
Fair Fee Structure
Our goal is to always help you manage and reduce your legal costs, as much as possible. NO WIN, NO PAY is a relatively new development in the market. Basically, it means that your lawyer won’t charge you fees for specified services, until after you’ve won your case, whether that be through settlement, a court judgement or some other agreement that resolves the proceedings.
However, you should know that this does not mean you’re entering into a risk-free agreement. If you lose the proceedings, you’ll still typically need to pay the other party’s legal costs, plus any outlays the firm had to make for you (such as disbursement fees).
Some lawyers who use the No Win, No Pay model also charge uplift fees, and these fees can be up to 25% additional costs for the lawyer’s services—eating into your payout.
UPLIFT FEES are an additional cost added by some firms, after you’ve won your case based on a No Win, No Pay guarantee. In this situation, such a payment works to compensate your lawyer for the risk they entered into with a No Win, No Pay agreement.
At Travis Schultz Law, we never charge uplift fees, and this sets us apart from other firms.
Experience and Expertise
We understand that you want the best legal advice for your unique, personal legal situation. It’s important that you choose to work with a lawyer who you believe is the best person for the task at hand, and that you want a specialist in their chosen field. Just like you wouldn’t get a mechanic to do your heart surgery, a tax specialist lawyer may not be the best option to run your motor vehicle accident case.
What this really boils down to, is that you should search for a lawyer who is open and honest with you about their expertise and experience in this area. Importantly, they should point you in the right direction if they’re not the person for your case. When assessing who’s right for you, look at how many cases they’ve been involved in, how many years of experience they have, whether they have any awards or are recognised as being a specialist in their area (Doyle’s Guide is a great recognition to look out for).\
At Travis Schultz Law, we’re committed to delivering open, honest and useful advice to every person we meet.
Results Focussed
Finally, it’s important that your lawyer is on your side and is committed to achieving a positive outcome.
When you’re looking for the best lawyer for your situation, search for someone who maintains positive relationships with their clients and the broader community, one who provides individualised service and who pays attention to how you want your claim to be run (e.g. what your preferred method of communication is, what level of involvement you’d like, etc).
Our entire team devote every day to achieving positive outcomes for our clients, and our focus on building positive, lasting relationships is testament to this.
We would love to help with your legal matter, so please call us on (07) 5406 7405 for an obligation-free assessment of your case.
Why Do Some Lawyers Charge Uplift Fees?
So, you’re needing to get some legal advice, but you’ve come across this term “uplift fees”. What are they? What do they mean? And why do some lawyers charge them and some not? Read on, because today I’m going to explain to you what uplift fees are and why some lawyers charge them.
What are uplift fees?
Uplift fees are additional fees that a lawyer adds to their bill when you’ve entered into a conditional costs agreement, which is developed when you’ve hired a lawyer with a No Win, No Pay guarantee.
These fees can be up to a 25% increase on their legal costs, plus then you also have disbursement fees, which means that the total bill for your legal claim can get very expensive, very quickly, and it can also begin to eat into your hard-earned payout.
Why can my lawyer charge uplift fees?
Uplift fees may seem unfair, but they’re strictly legislated, and they do exist for a reason. Uplift fees are there to compensate a lawyer for the risk they’ve entered into by being hired under a No Win, No Pay guarantee.
Basically, because the lawyer may not get paid after hundreds of hours of work–and because there may be a significant delay before they are paid even if the case is won–they’re allowed to charge extra to make up for that.
What do I do if my lawyer does charge Uplift Fees?
When a lawyer is hired with a No Win, No Pay guarantee, you and the lawyer will negotiate a conditional costs agreement. The costs that your lawyer may charge—including their uplift fees—must be clearly outlined in this agreement and it has to be written in plain language – so no need to worry about legalese.
You also have a 5 business day cooling off period once you’ve entered into a conditional costs agreement. This means that if you feel it’s too expensive or it’s not what you were looking for from your legal representation, you can exit the agreement without repercussions.
What if my lawyer doesn’t charge Uplift Fees?
Not every lawyer who has a No Win, No Pay guarantee charges uplift fees. No Win, No Pay was developed to ensure that everybody can access the legal advice they need and so some lawyers also understand that uplift fees are harming legal accessibility. If your lawyer isn’t charging you uplift fees – celebrate! It’s another way your lawyer is looking out for you.
Managing Partner
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