Pro bono or Conditional Fee Arrangement (CFA)?

[Mr Gray]

Just how does that prove one way or another the case was pro bono?
The Law Society definition as we are dealing with a case under English Law.
Your contention is the case was pro bono, an assertion you have failed signally to demonstrate.

Where have I said it proves anything...is there now a new rule where proof has to be provided.rather than just a cite

[Mr Gray]

Just how does that prove one way or another the case was pro bono?
The Law Society definition as we are dealing with a case under English Law.
Your contention is the case was pro bono, an assertion you have failed signally to demonstrate.

You are assuming I'm using the law society definition....I'm using the general understanding of the word...pro bono....free of charge

[slartibartfast]

Where have I said it proves anything...is there now a new rule where proof has to be provided.rather than just a cite

Moderator Comment: you have failed to provide a cite for Pro Bono. Cites have been provided for CFA and being on a retainer. Further posts on your behalf with no cite may be viewed as arguing.

[Miss Taken Identity]

Gerry never said there was....he said there would have been.

Criticising me and you don't understand English....now that is humerous.

"Gerry never said there was....he said there would have been".

Actually  what he said at the leveson enquiry was... and I understand this may be beyond your understanding but this is what Gerry said...
Mr McCann
Yes. I think it's very important, given the scale of the task that faced us, and we were given

 -- we made our decisions after being fully informed of the pathway, and I think that's very important.

 It was a last resort. And at the time, given our circumstances, I do not believe we would have had the resource to go down that path if it wasn't for a CFA being in place.


https://leveson.sayit.mysociety.org/hearing-23-november-2011/dr-gerald-patrick-mccann-and-dr-kate-marie-mccann


if it wasn't for a CFA being in place.

[slartibartfast]

You are assuming I'm using the law society definition....I'm using the general understanding of the word...pro bono....free of charge

Or more accurately for the (public) good.

[Mr Gray]

Moderator Comment: you have failed to provide a cite for Pro Bono. Cites have been provided for CFA and being on a retainer. Further posts on your behalf with no cite may be viewed as arguing.

CR did work free of charge to the McCann's...that fits the general definition of pro bono...free of charge....gratis

[Mr Gray]

Or more accurately for the (public) good.

You are taking a very limited version of the definition

[Mr Gray]

Moderator Comment: you have failed to provide a cite for Pro Bono. Cites have been provided for CFA and being on a retainer. Further posts on your behalf with no cite may be viewed as arguing.

I have provided a cite showing a CFA was not in place...there is also no confirmation that the retainer agreement involved payment.

[Sunny]

Pro bono is a legal definition in law it doesn't just mean for free. This is for anyone interested and is my opinion based on the dozens of documents I have read over the last few days.

[Mr Gray]

"Gerry never said there was....he said there would have been".

Actually  what he said at the leveson enquiry was... and I understand this may be beyond your understanding but this is what Gerry said...
Mr McCann
Yes. I think it's very important, given the scale of the task that faced us, and we were given

 -- we made our decisions after being fully informed of the pathway, and I think that's very important.

 It was a last resort. And at the time, given our circumstances, I do not believe we would have had the resource to go down that path if it wasn't for a CFA being in place.


https://leveson.sayit.mysociety.org/hearing-23-november-2011/dr-gerald-patrick-mccann-and-dr-kate-marie-mccann


if it wasn't for a CFA being in place.

Gerry says he doesnt believe they would have had the recources.....sounds like hes talking about a possibility to me...not an actual situation....


he is on record as saying  a CFA was not becessary which confirme to me there was not one in place

[G-Unit]

You are taking a very limited version of the definition

You are suggesting a new definition. Pro bono means no-one pays. No win no fee means someone pays. Carter-Ruck acted on a no win no fee basis, and were paid by the Express Group.

[Mr Gray]

You are suggesting a new definition. Pro bono means no-one pays. No win no fee means someone pays. Carter-Ruck acted on a no win no fee basis, and were paid by the Express Group.

no its a definition freely available....there was no...no win no fee agreement in place ...as confirmed by gerry...your post is factually incorrect..

I should mention that Carter-Ruck made clear that they would be willing to act for us in our libel dispute on the basis of a Conditional Fee Agreement, albeit that in the end
this was not necessary as Express Newspapers and Associated Newspapers did not contest our complaints. However, had it not been for the availability of a CFA, it would have been very difficult - if not impossible - for Kate and I to have brought the complaint as we do not have the resources to take on large media organisations in this way.


so the action was pro bono as far as the mccanns were concerned...ie.... the mccanns paid nothing

Gerry confirms  a CFA was available ,,,,....but not necessary

[Sunny]

2. What legal work qualifies as pro bono?
When we refer to pro bono legal work we mean legal advice or representation provided by lawyers in the public interest, including to individuals, charities and community groups who cannot afford to pay for that advice or representation and where public and alternative means of funding are not available.

Legal work is pro bono legal work only if it is free to the client, without payment to the lawyer or law firm (regardless of the outcome) and provided voluntarily either by the lawyer or his or her firm. Providing free legal assistance to friends or relatives who are not indigent is not pro bono.

Providing initial free legal advice to potential clients who would be able to pay, would not fall into the standard definition of pro bono.

See the bit in italics. Does this apply to the McCanns' case?

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Support-services/Practice-management/Pro-bono/Pro-bono-FAQs/

[G-Unit]

no its a definition freely available....there was no...no win no fee agreement in place ...as confirmed by gerry...your post is factually incorrect..

I should mention that Carter-Ruck made clear that they would be willing to act for us in our libel dispute on the basis of a Conditional Fee Agreement, albeit that in the end
this was not necessary as Express Newspapers and Associated Newspapers did not contest our complaints. However, had it not been for the availability of a CFA, it would have been very difficult - if not impossible - for Kate and I to have brought the complaint as we do not have the resources to take on large media organisations in this way.

so the action was pro bono as far as the mccanns were concerned...ie.... the mccanns paid nothing

Gerry confirms  a CFA was available ,,,,....but not necessary

A cite from a cardiologist with an interest in the case and which comes from an unidentified source seems to be all you can provide. Where can we find this 'freely available' definition?

[Brietta]

Ordinary people are on a hiding to nothing when it comes to taking on a conglomerate intent on libelling them.

If the McCanns had not found a way of of taking on the media in a way which was of no cost to them they would have had no legal redress against the publications defaming them.


pro bono
adverb & adjective NORTH AMERICAN
denoting work undertaken without charge, especially legal work for a client on low income.
"the attorneys are representing him pro bono"
synonyms:   free, gratis, unpaid, unrewarded, unsalaried, free of charge, without charge, for nothing, at no cost, without payment, for the common good; More




Did Carter Ruck agree to act professionally for the McCanns and their friends?  Yes they did.

How much did Carter Ruck charge the McCanns and their friends for their professional service?  It didn't cost the McCann's or their friends anything at all.

Therefore it was free.  As can be seen from the dictionary definition above 'pro bono' is undertaking wok on behalf of a client which doesn't incur a charge.

So what on earth is this prolonged semantics pack hunt that Davel has been subjected to really all about???


Snip
These really are just some thoughts for the future rather than anything that may be enforced in law, but we do know, and the media know, that they’re incredibly powerful. In the past they’ve been showing it by displaying images and they can help find children and that was why we chose to interact with them. However they have the potential to destroy lives and if we had not been supported as well as we had, by many different people including Carter Ruck, then they could have destroyed our lives and what was already seriously damaged.

So with such power comes marked responsibility. I think it is extremely important that ordinary people like ourselves do have the right to legal redress and I’m not sure that we could have gone through with these complaints against large organisations without the safety net of a conditional fee arrangement and that is certainly something that I think within the UK, should continue. And I’d like to ask for an appeal to the media, to remember that at the centre of every tragic story there are real people and real children and real families and we are not characters. Thank you.
Gerry McCann
https://www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=329261a6-5bf6-448a-9476-5b34ff80d6a2