What is legal aid?
Legal aid is funding for certain types of legal cases, which is provided by the government through the Legal Aid Agency. Most medical negligence claims are not eligible for legal aid.
For those types of cases still eligible, people can qualify for legal aid if they meet certain financial eligibility criteria. It can fund legal advice, mediation, and representation.
Does Irwin Mitchell offer legal aid for medical negligence claims?
Unfortunately, we aren’t able to offer legal aid to fund your medical negligence claim. However, we can offer alternative funding options we believe are in the best interests of most cases we’re involved with.
Contact us to discuss your situation in a free initial consultation. We’ll advise you on the funding options available to you and which we believe is most appropriate for you.
How can I fund my medical negligence claim with Irwin Mitchell?
Although we can’t accept legal aid claims, there are other options for funding your medical negligence claim.
No win no fee
Most of our medical negligence claims are made using a no win no fee agreement, sometimes known as conditional fee agreements (CFA).
If you make a no win no fee claim, you won’t need to pay anything if your claim is unsuccessful. You’ll only incur fees if your claim is successful – in this case, most of our fees will be covered by your opponent.
No win no fee claims need a suitable insurance policy to protect you from any costs while we’re fighting your claim.
If you don’t already have an appropriate insurance policy, we can take out After The Event (ATE) insurance on your behalf. This insurance policy fully protects you if your claim is unsuccessful. It also means that you can claim compensation without paying a penny upfront.
Because we offer this method of funding, it means we can’t offer clients the option of legal aid.
Legal expenses insurance (LEI)
You may consider claiming for compensation using legal expenses insurance (LEI).
You won’t have to pay any legal fees or expenses as part of your claim for compensation if you claim using LEI.
This may already come with your car or home insurance, so it’s worth checking to see if you’re covered as a policyholder.
How can I fund my medical negligence claim if I live in Scotland?
The above information relates to the law in England and Wales.
All Scottish cases will be handled by the Scottish law firm with which we are associated, Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP. The law relating to funding is different in Scotland and you will receive separate advice about what that means as well as a separate funding agreement.
