Referral fees

My message to anyone who is thinking of making a claim for compensation for injuries they have suffered at the hands of a negligent third party, is to instruct a quality and expert injury lawyer working under a Genuine No Win, No Fee agreement, and one who, importantly, has not paid a referral fee for your claim!  The reason is simple – lawyers who pay referral fees have less money to spend on you and have demonstrated at first instance that the reason they want to deal with your claim is not because they genuinely care for you, but because they want to make a quick bit of cash.

What are referral fees?

A referral fee is a sum of money paid to an insurer, claims company, or even garages and the police (apparently) by your legal representative to get hold of your details after you have had an accident so that they can take on your compensation claim.  For example, law firm (A) will pay insurer (B) £1000.00 so that they can get the details of your accident and your contact details to enable them to get in touch with you and convince you that you should be making a claim for compensation with them.  In other words, lawyers who pay a referral fee for your claim are saying that you are merely a pawn in their grand business plan.  Once a lawyer has paid a referral fee for your claim, you will no doubt be bombarded with text messages and cold calls – after all they will be desperate to get you on board – they have just paid a significant sum of money to get your claim information.

How much are referral fees generally?

Well, they differ from case to case.  Lawyers will have to pay more to an insurer if the insurer believes that you have a very valuable case.  So, if your injuries are worth a lot of money, they could charge the lawyer paying the referral fee a greater sum.  Having been around for 20 odd years, a typical referral fee will cost between £200 and £1,000.  As I am sure you will agree, if a lawyer pays £1,000 for your claim, that is £1,000 less they will spend on you, and they will be trying everything, including cutting corners, to make sure they can recoup that £1,000 outlay.

Important things to remember:

• You have a free will to instruct whichever lawyer you wish, and you do not even have to make a claim for compensation if you do not want to – just because a greedy lawyer has paid for your details does not mean you have to go with them
• Plenty of law firms specialise in personal injury law, working at no cost to you, and do not pay referral fees – there are some very decent lawyers out there
• If a lawyer pays a referral fee they may try and recover that from you directly
• £1,000 less money to spend on your claim means fewer updates and a worse service than you deserve
• You are not a commodity, nor do you deserve to be harassed by texts and calls from someone who has tried to buy your claim

At The Injury Lawyers we can proudly say that we have never paid a referral fee and never will.  We attract our clients through our expertise and reputation alone.