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UK Justice secretary Jack Straw has launched a crackdown on "irresponsible" employment lawyers who exploit vulnerable clients through excessive fees.
Some employment lawyers take a large proportion of the damages they win for clients in "excessive legal fees", Straw claims.
Straw has signaled he is ready to push-ahead with regulation that will cap the percentage of damages a lawyer can take. It would involve the Ministry of Justice amending the Coroners and Justice Bill to regulate contingency fee agreements. The regulations will force lawyers to provide clear information on total costs, as well as clarify deductions from damages and provide explicit information on alternative funding methods. Straw said in an interview with Law Society Gazette, a UK publication: "Unregulated contingency fee arrangements have been stretched to breaking point by some no-win, no-fee lawyers, who have exploited vulnerable clients by taking huge slices out of their damages, failed to provide them with proper information, and imposed unfair terms and conditions that have locked them into unreasonable deals."
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