Uplifts on disbursements

Some conditional fee agreements apply the uplift fee not only to the lawyer's direct fee but also to disbursements that they incur on your behalf. This means that if they obtained a medical report for $400.00 it will be charged to you at $500.00! At WORKFORCE LEGAL our uplift fee will not apply to disbursements incurred on your behalf. Applying an uplift charge to some disbursements can be very unfair. Firstly, there are some arrangements where some of the reports fees of treating medical practitioners can be recovered from the WorkCover Authority irrespective of the result of a claim particularly if they were used for an impairment claim or at conciliation of a dispute about your entitlements.

Secondly some, but not all, barristers will increase their charge in a successful matter to compensate for matters where they are not expected to charge the solicitor if the matter is unsuccessful. This sort of arrangement is quite common and appropriate. If such an arrangement is in place between the solicitor and barrister it is very unfair if you are also charged an additional uplift charge on the barrister's fee by the solicitor. This is because the barrister's fee is already increased if the claim is successful. If the claim is not successful, the solicitor may not have to pay the fee! It would be in effect a double uplift in a situation where there is no actual risk!

At WORKFORCE LEGAL, we will not charge any uplift fee on disbursements incurred on your behalf.