It is worth emphasising a few points regarding contingency fees (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 2). The evidence is not that contingency fees present no problems, but that those problems are more modest than many assume. They do not give rise to rampant, unmerited litigation, but they do give rise to consumer protection issues around clarity of charging, handcuff clauses and settlement.

Furthermore, they provide narrower levels of access to justice than, say, legal aid could but never will, or than conditional fee agreements do (in litigation). They are cheaper for opponents - their won costs are probably reduced and they pay no recoverable costs - and more proportionate, but the client pays out of their damages.

Contingency fees are neither the source of, nor the solution to, all of the justice system’s problems. Properly regulated, I believe they can help, but only a little.

Professor Richard Moorhead Deputy head of school, Cardiff Law School, Cardiff University