jes law

As a general rule legal aid (public funding provided by the government) is not available to fund or defend defamation claims. The only exception to this is where a claimant has brought proceedings to which legal aid may be given and the defendant has made a counterclaim for defamation. In such cases, legal aid may be granted to the claimant in order to pay for the legal fees associated with defending the counterclaim.
However, even though legal aid is not generally available to fund defamation claims, all is not lost. Some defamation solicitors will agree to take on defamation claims on a no win, no fee basis. Such agreements are known as conditional fee agreements.

Under the terms of the conditional fee agreement, the client will not be liable for the defamation solicitor’s legal fees if they are unsuccessful with their defamation claim (or they fail to defend the claim brought against them).

However, if the client is successful with their claim or successfully defends their claim, they are liable to pay the defamation solicitor’s normal legal fees plus a success fee (which is an agreed percentage uplift on the solicitor’s hourly rate up to a maximum of a 100%). In such cases, the majority of these legal fees will be recovered from the opponent as the general rule in relation to civil litigation is ‘the loser pays’.

Bearing this rule in mind even if you find a solicitor to take your case on a no-win, no-fee basis you should consider your opponent’s legal costs. Your defamation solicitor will advise you about how you can guard against the possibility of having to pay your opponent’s legal costs in the event of defeat.

For example, there are ‘after-the-event’ insurance policies on the market which could cover such costs. The cost of the premium for such policies will depend on the merits of the claim for which the cover is being sought.

If you require legal advice regarding defamation, you can contact a specialist solicitor today.