Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006

Part 11
Miscellaneous provisions

Conditional fee agreements

333 Definitions
  • For the purposes of this section and sections 334 and 335,—

    conditional fee agreement means an agreement under which a lawyer agrees with a client that some or all of the lawyer's fees and expenses for the provision to that client of advocacy or litigation services in respect of a matter are payable only if the outcome of that matter is successful

    normal fee, in relation to a conditional fee agreement, is the amount of the remuneration that would be payable for the services provided by the lawyer under the agreement if that amount were not contingent on the outcome of the matter to which the remuneration relates

    premium, in relation to a conditional fee agreement, means remuneration that a lawyer may become entitled to under the agreement in addition to a normal fee, being remuneration by way of premium that—

    • (a) is payable only if the outcome of the matter to which the agreement relates is successful; and

    • (b) is expressly provided for in the agreement; and

    • (c) compensates the lawyer—

      • (i) for the risk of not being paid at all; and

      • (ii) for the disadvantages of not receiving payments on account; and

    • (d) is not calculated as a proportion of the amount recovered.