Top lawyers raise CFA ethics problemWorking Party: study recommends firm cap on the total costs and undertakings should be submitted for prior court approvalConditional fee agreements (CFAs) raise serious ethical difficulties and should be more closely regulated to protect clients' interests, a committee of eminent legal academics and practitioners said last week.

The report was issued by a Society for Advanced Legal Studies' working party that included Geoffrey Bindman of Bindman & Partners, solicitor-advocate David Mackie QC of City firm Allen & Overy and High Court judge Mr Justice Lightman.It recommends that a firm cap on the total costs, at a particular percentage of damages, should be applied to all but the most exceptional cases.

There should be a compulsory 'period of contemplation' between the explanation of a draft CFA to a client, and the client's acceptance of the CFA, according to the report.

The report said 'success' and 'win' should be defined - in cases of claimant CFAs -- in terms of damages recovered, rather than damages awarded, to increase 'transparency and fairness'.No witness should be paid on a speculative, conditional or contingency fees basis, it said.Undertakings which have the effect of limiting the public's right to access certain solicitors should be submitted for prior court approval at the cost of the party seeking the undertaking.

Such undertakings could breach Article 6 of the Human Rights Act, the report suggested.In addition, the report recommends that the Law Society's practice rules be changed to make clear that solicitors' duties to their clients under rule 1 puts them in conflict with their clients if they advise the client to take out unnecessary or overpriced insurance.

Mark Harvey, secretary of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and partner at Swansea firm Smith Llewelyn Partnership, said: 'I have never heard of a complaint made by a client relating to a CFA.

I think the points made in this report have broadly already been taken on board by APIL members.'Meanwhile, APIL and the Personal Injuries Bar Association, last week unveiled the latest version of their model standard CFA for use in personal injury cases.

It includes costs for the first time.Jeremy Fleming