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Type ‘lawyers’ into Google and you get about 266,000,000 hits.  Wow!  Type ‘injury lawyers’ into Google and you still come back with over 6 million hits.  Although there are not 6 million law firms in the United Kingdom, there are an awful lot of injury law firms out there ready to assist with your potential claim. 

In many ways this is great because it shows that you do have a good choice of lawyers as it is up to you to decide who you want to instruct to deal with your claim.  However, you must be careful, not all ‘lawyers’ are actually lawyers; more often than not you will come across what are known as Claims Management Companies who will refer your claim to other solicitors. 

At The Injury Lawyers we firmly believe that you should only go through real solicitors who can actually deal with your claim themselves, rather than some random company who will happily pass your details around.  Here is what to look out for:
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The phrase ‘slips and trips’ is often used to describe one of the most common types of personal injury claims.  These accidents can happen at work – for example, if an obstruction has been left in a corridor, liquid has been spilled on the floor, or the surface of the floor is in poor condition. Alternatively, they can also happen in public places such as in the street because of a pothole or uneven paving slab or on private premises where the public have access such as a cinema or supermarket.  

It is also possible to make a claim if you have a slip or trip on private land that is not open to the general public. However, for this type of claim, you must generally have been invited as a visitor onto the land or otherwise have a good reason for being there. An easy example – as a customer in a supermarket.

In both cases, the person or organisation responsible for the land or building has a legal duty to make sure that the area is reasonably safe. Whether the owner has failed to keep the area safe will depend on the circumstances, such as the type of land or building. For example, local authorities have a duty to maintain their pavements to keep them in good condition.
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Our mission is to win the maximum amount of compensation for our clients in the shortest possible time, and assist with any medical needs required. To help this happen, we try our best to provide the highest quality service levels to our clients.

The problem is that many people who instruct a personal injury lawyer to make their claim have probably never made a claim in the past (unless you’re a little unlucky); so many people don’t quite know what to expect, or what they are entitled to. Many people will make their judgements based on what friends and family say. So, how do you know what to do when you are entering in to a process that you have never been through before?

Well, here is a little hint: check the Client Testimonials on the website of the law firm you are looking to instruct!
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You may have probably stumbled upon this article because you simply want to know how much your claim could be worth.  You may just be curious as you have now instructed your lawyers to deal with your claim, and you are pondering what your payout could be.

Or – you could be trying to gauge how much the insures of the driver at fault in the accident you were in is going to pay you directly.

Well, if you are dealing with the insurers directly – I have some VERY grave news for you.
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If your child has been involved in an accident that was not their fault and have sustained injuries as a result, just like an adult, they are able to obtain compensation for their injuries.  The difference is that they will need a ‘Litigation Friend’ to conduct the case on their behalf.

As I am sure you would agree, most children under the age of 18 would not be capable of bringing a claim for compensation themselves; this is particularly true if they are just three or four years old.  But this does not mean that if they have been injured they cannot be compensated.  Instead, a ‘litigation Friend’ – in other words, a responsible adult with the child’s best interests at heart – can bring their claim for compensation for them. 

Typically a litigation friend will be a child’s parent or guardian, but equally could be a social worker or some other trustworthy adult who has no conflict of interest with the case.
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OK – so we’ve been covering the fantastic news that referral fees for claims, such as referrals through legal expenses insurance / motor legal protection where your insurers will ‘sell’ your details on to a third party solicitor for cash, which forms part of a government agenda to make the world of compensation claiming more efficient.

One of the other areas has been surrounding the cut of the legal aid bill and potential changes to the no win, no fee system. The gist and result of the whole idea will result in a reduction in the number of payouts, which I imagine is intended for the costs of insurance to lower; although I’d love to see the day the insurers pass on saving to the consumer!

But, back to the main topic, sadly, proposals in place involve shifting some of the costs of the no win, no fee system to the Claimant from the Defendant. We strongly oppose such a notion, as it will result in innocent accident victims having their payouts slashed to cover costs the Defendant, i.e. the person or party at fault for the injuries, will no longer have to pay the full amount.
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Making a claim for compensation for injuries sustained in a relatively straightforward road accident is quick and easy.  As of the 30^th April 2010 a new process came into place which streamlined the compensation claiming process making it a heck of a lot faster and easier.  Whereas previously an admission of liability could potentially take four months to come from the Defendant, now the Defendant only has 15 business days to admit or deny liability.  As I am sure you would agree, this is a massive improvement.

What happens now is that when you get in touch with an injury lawyer you will be asked to help your lawyer fill out what is called a claims notification form.  This will outline your accident circumstances, the vehicles involved, the injuries you have sustained, and the parties details.  This will be submitted, once completed, to the Ministry of Justice portal online and the Defendant’s insurers will have just one day to acknowledge receipt of it. 

After this they then have the 15 business days to come back with their position on liability.  At The Injury Lawyers we only take only cases which we genuinely believe will be successful; therefore in most of our cases an admission is received well within this 15 day period.
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If you have been injured through tripping, slipping or falling on a defect whilst out and about on the highways, whether it’s from tripping on a raised paving slab, or falling down because of a pothole in the road, you are eligible to initiate a claim with the local highways authority of council.

Every stretch of land is under the jurisdiction of a local council or some branch of highways authority; their responsibility is to ensure that all areas within their jurisdiction are regularly inspected and maintained and rectify any defect that may appear.

If you end up injuring yourself because of a defect in the highway, I, unfortunately, have some rather grim news for you. We here at The Injury Lawyers do not like to mollycoddle you when it comes to the serious business of making claims. We tell you straight, right from the start, whether we think you have a good claim or not. In many instances, it’s difficult to tell without some form of investigation with the other side on our Genuine No Win, No Fee basis. But what I can tell you is that making a claim against your local council or a highways authority is a very difficult process.
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… sadly, its kicking off in a way similar to Jonny Wilkinson’s in England’s Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina last Saturday; in the wrong way!

My recent articles have centred on the fantastic news that insurer’s referral fees will finally be banned following a parliamentary plan to initiate the practice becoming an illegality in the (hopefully) near future.

We, as an independent firm of specialist personal injury lawyers, have always spoken out against the practice of referral fees. We firmly believe, and have seen evidence proving the fact, that referral fees not only add no value to the claim of an injured victim, but they have the potential to destroy it.
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OK – so over the last few months I have been praising former Justice Secretary Mr Jack Straw for exposing the insurance industries “dirty secret” that they are responsible for the exponential increases in insurance premiums by selling claims on to lawyers for pure profit.

When the insurance companies have been telling you that the increase in premiums as a result of personal injury lawyers and claims has resulted in increases of up to 30%, it transpired that this was largely a symptom of your own insurance company encouraging potentially scrupulous claims by pushing you in to making one so they can cash in on up to £1,000 for referring your claim. Even if you’re genuine, they’ll make you claim using their referral fee solicitor; not because they are doing you a favour, but because they get paid to pass your personal details around.

We have spoken out against this on hundreds of occasions, as we never involve ourselves in referral fees, and have advised many victims of the referral fee system to change lawyers as soon as they can after they have been subject to poor service levels and potentially low payouts because their referral fee solicitor is too cash strapped to act for them in the right way thanks to wasting a huge portion of their budget on paying the fee.
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