Injury claims are about to change forever!

thesteal

From April this year new legislation comes into play which will result in a number of changes to the UK legal system.

One element of the changes that will be brought about is the scrapping of what we have come to know as “NO WIN NO FEE” agreements in the majority of personal injury cases.

Actually, that’s not strictly true. Elements are being scrapped. These agreements will still be around, you will just struggle to find a solicitor who will act for you under one.

The main effect of this change is that solicitors will not be able to recover as much for their fees (in fact no success fee at all) from the party who is at fault. You would be forgiven for thinking “So what? It doesn’t effect me and I don’t really care how much my solicitor gets.”

… but think about it this way: Of all the different areas of law, personal injury solicitors are some of the lowest paid. If the amount of money they can make from your case goes down, then what’s in it for them?

In other words they will simply stop acting for claimants who have genuine personal injury claims because it will not be worth their while. So “access to justice” goes out of the window!

Some personal injury law firms (even the big ones) are already making redundancies. So not only will these changes affect the people that want to claim compensation, it is also putting people out of work.

This is not just something that the government is considering. This is actually happening.

If you do have a genuine claim and you haven’t already spoken to a solicitor, now is the time to do it. Whether it's one of the big claims companies that advertise on TV or just your local solicitor, act now because after April you may lose out.

miduck

Few PI solicitors have the moral integrity that should be essential to practice law. I have zero sympathy for them, this change is very welcome to me.

thesteal

miduck wrote: »

Few PI solicitors have the moral integrity that should be essential to practice law. I have zero sympathy for them, this change is very welcome to me.

You've kind of missed the point... but thanks for your input.

miduck

thesteal wrote: »

You've kind of missed the point... but thanks for your input.

I haven't, I know about the changes and I wholly support them. The system is massively abused as it stands, and those that have allowed and encouraged the abuse cannot now play the sympathy card. There will be genuine cases that will struggle to find representation, in which case it is for the sols to look at their motivations - justice or money?

arcon5

Of all the different areas of law, personal injury solicitors are some of the lowest paid

I wouldn't be surprised if most of these firms didn't even employ qualified solicitors, just general workers able to push paperwork around.

Just means their fees will be more transparent to the claimant.

gravitytolls

The thing is, some kind of changes needed to be made, but the concern is that those who are actually injured and actually need representation may not be able to get it.

There must be a middle ground.

marleyboy

thesteal wrote: »

Of all the different areas of law, personal injury solicitors are some of the lowest.

Corrected it for you.;)

Gilbert2

arcon5 wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised if most of these firms didn't even employ qualified solicitors, just general workers able to push paperwork around.

Just means their fees will be more transparent to the claimant.

I doubt it, it is a highly complex area of law.

In any case, it would be against the law to do as you suggest.

Gilbert2

miduck wrote: »

There will be genuine cases that will struggle to find representation, in which case it is for the sols to look at their motivations - justice or money?

They can have both.

Why is it wrong for anybody, regardless of their job, to aspire to high earnings?

arcon5

Gilbert2 wrote: »

I doubt it, it is a highly complex area of law.

PI companies probably use solicitors to draw up procedures and documents to deal with claims... take car insurance claims, i'm betting there is a set procedure to gather facts & evidence and present it to insurers and in turn a procedure in dealing with the claim.

Some people choose to represent themselves when making a claim, so you don't necessarily need to be a professional to make one.

In any case, it would be against the law to do as you suggest.

What law?

dacouch

Gilbert2 wrote: »

I doubt it, it is a highly complex area of law.

In any case, it would be against the law to do as you suggest.

Plenty of PI firms use non solicitors do handle claims, anything complex is referred to their in house solicitors for their opinion