Any legal action carries costs risks. Not tackling discrimination carries the certainty of further discrimination, which can result in destitution and sometimes even death. Judges have wide discretion over whether to award costs.
Whether the risk is worth taking depends on your individual circumstances. The worse that can happen is you lose and get a bill for the other sides legal costs. You would have to pay that if you can afford to. We refer cases to Ringrose Law who are also no win no fee.
No. Our Director previously trained and supervised solicitors in carrying out social security casework under pro bono programmes in the voluntary sector. Before the abolition of legal aid, the vast majority of legal aid, in, for example, social security went to non-solicitor advisers. Many solicitors employ lots of non-solicitors to pursue cases. The monopoly of solicitors on advice has long since disappeared. The legal profession is structured in such a way that it is not economically viable for it to run many types of cases and so lawyers these days generally only work for wealthy people. And legal aid is currently largely a thing of the past.
The County Court Small Claims Track is specifically set-up to run without lawyers - legal cost are not usually recoverable. Non-solicitor advisers are permitted to represent for Small Claims, but only with the claimant present (Ministry of Justice - Practice Direction 27 - Small Claims Track). If the claimant being "present" causes a problem for a disabled person then the Court is required to make reasonable adjustments for them.
Alternatively, claims can be brought without representation and with more informal support. The courts service has produced guidance encouraging the courts to be more accommodating to litigants in person saying the litigant in person should never be seen as a problem. It's more about whether the court is a problem for the litigant in person: Read The Equal Treatment Bench Book.
If we decide your claim is better dealt with by solicitors we can refer you on to a reputable firm.
Kester Disability Rights is genuinely no win no fee. If we don’t win you don’t pay anything at all to KDR and if we do win you pay either 35% or a fixed fee. This will be made absolutely clear after your free case assessment and initial advice. If medical evidence is needed for your case we can pay for it out of our own funds if we think there is a reasonable chance of winning.
- Is there a charity that has a sustainable funding model to meet the advice needs of its beneficiaries? KDR is a sustainable growth model.
- The charity and public advice sector is shrinking whilst demand is increasing – we need a growth model.
- Should disabled people be dependent on charity for the pursuit of their rights?
- Our Director had positive experience of no win no fee non-lawyer agreements in his own life. He liked the fact that my adviser would only get paid if he won my case! It felt much better than either being frightened by solicitors costs or being dependant on charity.
- Solicitors are too expensive for the vast majority of people and legal aid for the areas we work in has all but disappeared.
Initial advice is free - it's only if we fully take on your case and win it that we charge anything.
Fees income is reinvested in services - we are totally not for profit. Income from fees is the only sustainable way we have found to fund the service. Grants etc come with strings attached and independence can be compromised.
Yes, these are being developed and added to the site in the different subject categories. They are free to access and use. We try to concentrate on areas where there's nothing else out there as there is already so much and you'll find links to other suggested free sites too.