No Win No Fee Lawyers – Brisbane & Queensland

Capped legal fees for all personal injury claims in Queensland

The “50/50 Rule”

To make it affordable for you to make a claim, most personal injury law firms run claims on No Win No Fee basis. This is known as a conditional costs agreement. The condition is simple – the law firm must win your case or they cannot charge you for the work completed.

In Queensland, it is a myth that a lawyer can end up charging you more than you receive in compensation, or that lawyers charge large percentages. It is also actually illegal for law firms to charge a fixed percentage of your settlement as their fee – so with most No Win No Fee arrangements, the lawyer’s professional fees are calculated by the time spent on your case (or by a fixed fee), with a percentage cap applied as an overall ceiling on those fees.

By law, professional fees charged by No Win No Fee lawyers cannot exceed 50% of your net personal injury settlement or court award.

This maximum charge is known as the ’50/50 rule’ and it applies regardless of the amount of hours that are spent on your claim. This gives you a legislated ‘worst case scenario’ style cost protection with respect to legal fees.

How Much Do We Charge? Our Fee Cap on No Win No Fee Claims

At Roche Legal, we believe you deserve to keep more than just half of your settlement – even in the worst case scenario. We work to run your claim as cost-effectively as possible, and whether we offer you a fixed fee or charge by the hour, we cap our professional fees well below the legislated maximum of 50% under the 50/50 rule.

Depending on the circumstances of your claim, Roche Legal’s special fee cap ranges from as low as 20% up to a maximum of 40% of your settlement or judgment award. Larger claims attract our strongest caps, so the more you are awarded, the greater the share you keep.

With Roche Legal, you are guaranteed to collect a minimum of 60% (and often significantly more) of your net settlement. This is why we say our offer is better than the standard No Win No Fee cost protections, and why we are known as Brisbane’s Best No Win No Fee Lawyers.

No Win No Fee Comparison

Roche Legal’s fee cap offers better protection for lower legal costs.

A worked example of the 50/50 rule vs our fee cap

In a ‘worst case scenario’, if your claim didn’t go to court and settled for a hypothetical $100,000, but your lawyer’s fees calculated by the hour totalled $60,000 (and your claim incurred $10,000 worth of expenses for medico-legal reports and barrister fees for example), then the lawyer’s fees would be discounted as follows.

This example applies our maximum 40% cap; depending on the amount of compensation you are awarded, your cap may be lower.

So, the total legal fees that an ordinary ‘no win no fee’ lawyer could charge by law under the 50/50 rule is $45,000 despite their legal fees being calculated at $60,000 on an hourly basis.

Comparatively, at Roche Legal, the most we would charge for the same amount of legal work in this scenario is $36,000 because of our fee cap – and for larger claims our cap is lower still.

In this example, our extra cost protection provides a $9,000 saving resulting in more compensation funds paid into your bank account. Plus, because we charge predominantly on a time basis, our legal fees rarely ever reach 40% of the net compensation to our clients.

Frequently Asked Questions about No Win No Fee in Queensland

How much do solicitors take for no win no fee?

In Queensland, professional fees on no win no fee personal injury claims are statutorily capped at 50% of the net recovery (after refunds and disbursements) under the Legal Profession Act 2007. That is the maximum, not the standard charge – most claims resolve well below the cap. At Roche Legal, our cost cap ranges from 20% to 40% of the net recovery rather than the legislated 50%, and you can see the full worked example in our explainer guide.

Is it worth using a no win no fee solicitor?

For most Queensland personal injury and compensation claims, yes – for two reasons. First, Personal injury law in Queensland is governed by overlapping statutes (PIPA 2002, WCRA 2003, MAIA 1994) with strict notice periods and procedural rules; getting them wrong can devalue or invalidate a claim. Second, a no win no fee retainer means the firm only earns its professional fees if the claim succeeds, which aligns the lawyer’s incentive with the client’s outcome. We offer a free initial consultation so you can assess the merits of your claim before committing.

What are the downsides of “no win no fee”?

The honest downside is cost: a no win no fee retainer is generally more expensive in absolute terms than a private-pay arrangement, because the firm carries the risk of non-payment and typically charges an uplift fee (a success fee, capped at 25% of professional fees in Queensland) to compensate for that risk. The trade-off is access – most personal injury claimants cannot afford to fund a claim privately, and without a no win no fee option the claim simply would not be run. Also worth knowing: where a firm advertises that it doesn’t charge an uplift, its hourly rates often already reflect a silent uplift built into the rate itself, so the total fee outcome can be similar to a firm that itemises the uplift transparently.

Are no win no fee lawyers actually free?

“No win no fee” means you do not pay your lawyer’s professional fees up front, and you do not pay them at all if the claim is unsuccessful. It does not mean the service is free in all circumstances – if the claim succeeds, professional fees, disbursements (medical reports, court fees, barrister fees) and any uplift are deducted from your settlement before you receive your share. Before signing any costs agreement, ask for a written estimate of likely fees and disbursements and confirm in writing whether an uplift applies and how disbursements are handled if the claim is lost.

What types of claims can be run on no win no fee?

In Queensland, no win no fee arrangements are most commonly used for claims where damages are awarded by a court or paid by an insurer, rather than out of an individual’s pocket. Roche Legal runs no win no fee retainers for workplace injury and WorkCover claims, motor vehicle accident claims under the CTP scheme, public liability claims, medical negligence claims, total and permanent disability (TPD) and superannuation insurance claims, and estate litigation including will disputes and family provision applications. Whether a no win no fee retainer is appropriate depends on the merits of the claim, the likely range of compensation, and the cost of running the matter – which is why a free initial consultation is the right starting point.

What happens if I lose my no win no fee claim?

Under a genuine no win no fee retainer, you do not pay your own lawyer’s professional fees if the claim is unsuccessful. Disbursements (out-of-pocket expenses such as medical reports, court filing fees, and barrister fees on settlement) are treated differently – at Roche Legal we cover disbursements where the claim is lost, but this is not universal across the profession, and some firms will pursue clients personally for unpaid disbursements after a loss. We recommend confirming the disbursement position in writing before you sign a costs agreement. There is also a separate risk to be aware of: an adverse costs order, where a court orders an unsuccessful claimant to pay a portion of the other side’s legal costs. As experienced personal injury lawyers, we manage matters with this risk in mind – making realistic offers, advising properly on settlement, and avoiding unnecessary steps – which significantly reduces the chance of an adverse costs order being made. Adverse costs orders are also very unlikely unless a matter actually proceeds to a contested hearing. Most personal injury claims in Queensland settle out of court through compulsory conferences and pre-litigation negotiations, so for the majority of clients this risk never materialises.

No win no fee – pay a lawyer or go it alone?

Self-representation is legally possible, but personal injury claims in Queensland are governed by strict procedural statutes (PIPA 2002, WCRA 2003, MAIA 1994) with notice periods, mandatory disclosure obligations, and offer-and-conference rules that are easy to get wrong. For example, PIPA s.9 requires a Notice of Claim within 9 months of the incident or first symptom. Missing that 9-month limit will rarely bar a claim permanently – there are mechanisms to seek leave to proceed out of time and to provide a reasonable explanation for the delay – but a self-represented claimant often will not know that, and may abandon a viable claim believing it is dead. The combination of a no win no fee retainer and a cost cap means the practical question is rarely “lawyer vs no lawyer” – it is whether the lawyer’s share of the recovery is justified by the increase in the recovery and the procedural safety the lawyer brings.

Other claim-related expenses

Disbursements

In most personal injury cases, your claim for damages must be substantiated by medical evidence. The best evidence is obtained by attending on a doctor for an independent medical examination. Sometimes more than one examination is required and can cost from $3,000 – $5,000 per report. Similar costs can be spent on other expert reports to prove liability. Further, a barrister may be employed to argue your case in court and there will likely be court fees. It is not uncommon for a personal injury claim to have disbursements totalling $10,000 – $20,000, and more if the matter goes to trial.

At Roche Legal, our standard No Win No Fee agreement covers these expenses (with no markups) and if you lose your case, we will not seek to recover these costs from you.

Office Expenses

We do not charge our clients for internal expenses that we incur whilst running your claim – such as printing, scanning, copying, faxing, emailing, etc.

Refunds

Almost every personal injury claim requires that any money that has already been paid to you because of your injuries is refunded at the conclusion of your claim when you win. The most common refunds are sums payable to Medicare, Centrelink, Workcover and private health insurers. Do not fear – we take refunds into account by including such amounts in our calculations of what the at-fault party owes to you.

Recovering Legal Costs From The Other Side

When you have legal representation acting for you on a no win no fee basis and lose your claim, you will not have to pay your solicitors fees. However, if you win your claim, the professional costs and disbursements become payable. But why should you have to pay legal fees when the other side is being held liable for your injuries?

When an injury is significant, Queensland legislation often allows for the recovery of a portion of your actual legal costs from the other side in most situations when you win or settle your case. There are some exceptions to this rule (such as workers’ compensation matters).

Call Roche Legal to find out whether the other side will likely be required to pay or contribute to your legal costs.