Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA)
A 'no win, no fee' agreement between a lawyer and client, under which fees are payable only in specified circumstances (usually success). If it provides for an uplifted 'success fee', the agreement must meet extra statutory conditions, including a maximum limit on that fee. Governed by s.58 Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The statutory definition is precise: 'a conditional fee agreement is an agreement with a person providing advocacy or litigation services which provides for his fees and expenses, or any part of them, to be payable only in specified circumstances.' Such agreements are only enforceable if they satisfy the conditions the Act sets out: a conditional fee agreement 'which satisfies all of the conditions applicable to it by virtue of this section shall not be unenforceable by reason only of its being a conditional fee agreement; but ... any other conditional fee agreement shall be unenforceable.'
The 'no win, no fee' uplift has its own statutory label and its own extra safeguards. The Act explains: 'a conditional fee agreement provides for a success fee if it provides for the amount of any fees to which it applies to be increased, in specified circumstances, above the amount which would be payable if it were not payable only in specified circumstances', and 'references to a success fee ... are to the amount of the increase.' Where an agreement does provide for a success fee, it must state the percentage increase, and additional conditions apply — including that 'the agreement must provide that the success fee is subject to a maximum limit.'
Related terms
Official sources
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