Condition fee arrangements in Zimbabwe

Under English law, contingency fee agreements are known as condition fee arrangements. It is therefore possible for parties in Zimbabwe to enter into condition fee agreements, also known as contingency fee agreements.

In terms of section 22A of the Legal Practitioners Act [Chapter 27:07], a conditional fee arrangement is defined in the following manner:

Contingency fee arrangement, means an agreement entered into between a registered legal practitioner and his client in terms of which no fee, other than court fees or disbursements, are payable by the client for the legal practitioner’s service in connection with any legal proceedings unless the proceedings result in a decision or settled in the client’s favour.

The reason behind conditional fee arrangements in Zimbabwe is that legal practitioners take the risk of financing their client’s litigation in the hope – or anticipation – of succeeding if the litigation. If the litigation is not successful, the legal practitioner will not be paid.