Fee policy

Turner Freeman operates on a variety of different fee structures for different matters.  Personal injury work is generally done on a no win/no fee basis, while other work may also be done on this basis (in whole or part), or on the basis of the payment of our fees as they occour.

We are committed, where possible to ensuring that a person's capacity to pay up front legal costs does not prevent them from obtaining access to high level legal services.

No Win / No Fee

 We work on a no win-no fee basis for personal injury claims. This means that, unless you recover compensation, you will not be charged for any work done by our firm or for any expenses incurred by us in investigating your claim.

When we undertake our work on a no win/no fee basis, you will not be charged any money up front. We will investigate your claim without charging you. This includes organising and paying for medical and expert reports.*  

If a claim is commenced on your behalf then we will continue to pay all of the expenses incurred in litigating your claim, including court fees and fees for medical and expert reports.  In addition, we will not charge you for our legal work until your matter is successfully completed.

When you receive compensation, we will be paid our legal costs and disbursements incurred in accordance with our costs disclosure. You will not be charged a percentage, but will be charged as disclosed to you and on the basis of the work we undertook.

In many cases most of the amount payable by way of costs and disbursements will be recovered from the other party.

Should you fail in your claim for compensation you may be liable for the whole or part of the other party's costs, but not for our fees and charges. Any such costs order will depend on the type of claim and the orders of the Court.  We will fully advise you in relation to the prospects of success of your claim, prior to commencing, and during any Court proceedings.

We will also provide you with a detailed disclosure as to our costs before we commence proceedings for you.

(* The exception is medical negligence claims where we will require payment for the initial expert report on liability.)

Pay as you go fees

In matters that are not personal injury matters, we generally act on the basis that our fees and disbursements be paid as they are incurred.  You will be provided with a full disclosure as soon as is reasonably possible which will set out our estimates of the likely costs for the work involved in your claim.

You will be billed as work is undertaken, or on a monthly or quarterly basis.