best route for employment case: contents insurance v best lawyer? which lawyer

[fizzymilk]

Hi which is the best way to take forward employment case:

contents insurance
or
best lawyer

I assume best lawyer would be the way forward in terms of flexibility and winning the case but then you need lots of money to finance right? Also if lawyer-which do you pick-the one ranked no 1 in employment or employee union in legal 500- don't understand or some other?

contents insurance-cost absorbed by the amount of cover taken but are they inflexible about what you want? Can you state whether you prefer to settle or employment tribunal.

i hope i'm making sense because choice is which one to go for which will win case without ending bankrupt. the insurer for contents insurance is tier 8 in employment section of top legal 500. should one go for allen & overy ranked 1?

How complex is your case? If it's fairly straightforward you don't need the "best" lawyer, you just need one who knows what s/he's doing. If you're earning multimillions, that's a different story.

Re contents insurance lawyer, I'm guessing you don"'t get to choose the lawyer, and they will recommend settling most of the time, as it's cheaper. If no settlement is on offer, they will only fight it if they think you have a good chance of winning.

Hi OldLadyKnowsNothing. The case is complex and the company the case is against are trying to show they are playing by book but in reality are really flouting the law...so need lawyer who will really pick up on every minute flaw, and prove that they are in the wrong. the person involved in the case is not earning millions.

contents insurance- they say another firm of solicitor can be picked but no one has ever done that and they first need to approve. oh okay i didnt know that i assumed contents insurance lawyer put you through tribunal not sure why i thought that

Tbh, and strictly in my "I am not a lawyer" opinion, any reputable lawyer should advise you to go for the cheapest option, even if it doesn't achieve "justice".

Assuming the litigant isn't elligible for Legal Aid, and can't afford top-notch lawyers, the best thing would be to ask in his/her local Citizen's Advice for a good local solicitor, who will give best advice once s/he has the information. You can sometimes get a free initial consultation, but check this in advance, as I once thought that's what I was attending (also a tribunal issue, but long ago) and was surprised when a bill arrived! It wasn't enormous, just a bit of a shock.

IME most insurance funded claims the insurer will insist there is at least a 51% chance of success to fund a case through tribunal. Self funded will advise but ultimately they will do what you pay them for even if it is against their advice (and you will get a very long, arse-covering letter that they will bill you for to tell you that, as is quite right).

If you're not earning megabucks then insurance may be a good route. I have been quoted a figure of £100,000 to take a complicated case via tribunal by one employment lawyer. Do you know how much a magic circle firm is likely to charge? It's about £400 plus VAT per hour and for a partner much, much more. It could take a good 8 hours just to understand the bear bones of your case never mind anything else. You will likely have to put money on a retainer before they will even do any work.

A barrister is about £800 per day and is often a cheaper option than an employment solicitor. You cannot get your legal fees paid if you self fund and whatever you win could be eaten up in legal costs.

Settling is not losing. This article shows the average awards at tribunal for 2010. It also shows the really big awards that inflate the payments. Bear this in mind when looking at an average award of £18,584 for race discrimination where there is an award of £374,922 to skew the figures and only 3% tribunal success rate. www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/09/08/56506/employment-tribunal-statistics-2010-which-discrimination-claims-get-the-largest-awards.html