no win no fee solicitors - my views...

ALYMAC76

i work in insurance and have done for 10 years always dealing with personal injury claims whether that be employers liability, products liability, public liability or motor personal injury.

everyone is aware that there is a huge market in the uk for personal injury claims esp england/wales.

there are a large number of firms offering to pursue claims for you, alleging specialist personal injury solicitors etc.

if you are unfortunate to be involved in any form of accident this is my views on the situation.

who is dealing with your case? chances are for low level personal injury claims your case at most of the bulk personal injury claims will be dealt with by a non legally qualified member of staff, sadly i am aware that a lot of these people like to give the view that they are a solicitor and certainly wouldnt do anything to change your view. Now most firms will allege and by law they must have a solicitor overseeing the case. I would always ask who will have the day to day dealing of your case, if its a low level claim say a whiplash injury then it should be okay. But if you or say a family member has been badly hurt make sure your happy who is dealing with your case.

where are the solicitors? a lot of the firms who deal with this type of work can be anywhere in say england/wales, you could be in bristol and your solicitor in newcastle! You might not even see them through the actual claim! I use this to my advantage when negotiating claims I have concerns over by pushing the claimants solicitors by asking how credible their client is.

medical examinations - my real point of gripe. You may get seen by a "medical expert" say an orthopaedic surgeon, make sure if you are they fully examine you, loads of them do hundreds and even thousands of reports a year, now you want to ensure that while you get some £££££ that your fully examined and they fully assess you and can make sure there are no long term problems. I see on a daily basis reports from same experts that are basically the same report.

costs - if your claim is successful your reasonable solicitors fees will be paid. The insurance company will as part of the settlement agree to meet reasonable fees...question is how much did you get for your claim? Say £3,000 for a say sprained ankle 6 month recovery. Your solicitors I assure you will get say £5,000 - £8,000 in fees ie more than you!!!


my own view for whats it worth, if you do have a claim for personal injury try and see a local firm, someone you can talk to face to face, if its a serious injury go see a big firm, for me if it was me or my family i would go to someone like Thompsons.

Ally

mattymoo

Agree with the comment about Thompsons - used a lot by unions IIRC. I seem to recall the Police Federation had a particularly good firm.

Used to deal with these claims between 1990 and 1994, moved over to Risk Surveying after that. Woolfe was just about to come in along with the abolition of legal aid that made way for no-win no-fee arrangements.

I suppose the job must be a little better with full disclosure of evidence before trial. I used to do door of court negotiations with the legal teams and barristers. Some of the bluffs we used back then would never be allowed now I guess but they did work. Personal favourite was carrying around a video tape in full view of the claimant and his legal team. They always assumed we had used someone like SIS to obtain video evidence.

Not really kept up with the claims side of things but I guess the CRU is still on the go.

ALYMAC76

mattymoo wrote: »

Agree with the comment about Thompsons - used a lot by unions IIRC. I seem to recall the Police Federation had a particularly good firm.

Used to deal with these claims between 1990 and 1994, moved over to Risk Surveying after that. Woolfe was just about to come in along with the abolition of legal aid that made way for no-win no-fee arrangements.

I suppose the job must be a little better with full disclosure of evidence before trial. I used to do door of court negotiations with the legal teams and barristers. Some of the bluffs we used back then would never be allowed now I guess but they did work. Personal favourite was carrying around a video tape in full view of the claimant and his legal team. They always assumed we had used someone like SIS to obtain video evidence.

Not really kept up with the claims side of things but I guess the CRU is still on the go.

On yes the cru is still on the go and even more fun from when you got out!

Sadly the cpr has made the old video trick a near thing of the past, on one of my cases we disclosed right at the last minute but had the surveillance a few months and judge went for us on basis we hadnt been open and if it had been disclosed case may not even have reached court!

realshannon

sorry what is CRU?

olly300

BTW if you or your partner are in a union you should check your member benefits. Some unions will take on non-work related personal injury claims through their approved solicitors.

ALYMAC76

realshannon wrote: »

sorry what is CRU?

cru is the compensation recovery unit, part of the dwp.

pardon

ALYMAC76 wrote: »

i work in insurance and have done for 10 years always dealing with personal injury claims whether that be employers liability, products liability, public liability or motor personal injury.

everyone is aware that there is a huge market in the uk for personal injury claims esp england/wales.

there are a large number of firms offering to pursue claims for you, alleging specialist personal injury solicitors etc.

if you are unfortunate to be involved in any form of accident this is my views on the situation.

who is dealing with your case? chances are for low level personal injury claims your case at most of the bulk personal injury claims will be dealt with by a non legally qualified member of staff, sadly i am aware that a lot of these people like to give the view that they are a solicitor and certainly wouldnt do anything to change your view. Now most firms will allege and by law they must have a solicitor overseeing the case. I would always ask who will have the day to day dealing of your case, if its a low level claim say a whiplash injury then it should be okay. But if you or say a family member has been badly hurt make sure your happy who is dealing with your case.

where are the solicitors? a lot of the firms who deal with this type of work can be anywhere in say england/wales, you could be in bristol and your solicitor in newcastle! You might not even see them through the actual claim! I use this to my advantage when negotiating claims I have concerns over by pushing the claimants solicitors by asking how credible their client is.

medical examinations - my real point of gripe. You may get seen by a "medical expert" say an orthopaedic surgeon, make sure if you are they fully examine you, loads of them do hundreds and even thousands of reports a year, now you want to ensure that while you get some £££££ that your fully examined and they fully assess you and can make sure there are no long term problems. I see on a daily basis reports from same experts that are basically the same report.

costs - if your claim is successful your reasonable solicitors fees will be paid. The insurance company will as part of the settlement agree to meet reasonable fees...question is how much did you get for your claim? Say £3,000 for a say sprained ankle 6 month recovery. Your solicitors I assure you will get say £5,000 - £8,000 in fees ie more than you!!!


my own view for whats it worth, if you do have a claim for personal injury try and see a local firm, someone you can talk to face to face, if its a serious injury go see a big firm, for me if it was me or my family i would go to someone like Thompsons.

Ally

Any descent solicitor would not pursue a claim on a no win no fee basis unless he/she are almost sure they will be wining the case.

Mr_Bear_2

any solicitor that does not do cfa work will not survive unless they are on a legal expenses panel

pardon

You may want to try the no win no fee solicitors directory