Aclec puts no win, no fee under microscope

RESEARCHERS are poised to embark on a major survey to assess the impact of the new now win, no fee regulations.

Burning issues including the proportion of damages swallowed up by fees are to be tackled in the survey commissioned by the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (Aclec).

The committee has hired the Policy Studies Institute to conduct the survey and hopes it will be finished by the end of the summer.

A pilot project has already been completed.

The research is likely to uncover the first hard evidence of the impact of the conditional fee regulations which were questioned by an array of leading legal figures including Aclec's chair Lord Steyne.

Arch opponent Lord Ackner, who led a last ditch attempt in the House of Lords to limit the proportion of damages payable in fees, has been pressing for the impact of "no win, no fees" to be monitored.

Aclec education secretary Richard Jones said the Lord Chancellor's Department was being consulted over the research. "We have a common concern with the LCD and other groups such as the Law Society to conduct research into this issue," he said.