One of the main worries when looking to pursue legal action is the worry of cost! Solicitors can be extremely expensive so many people are put off from pursing a claim because of this. However, this should not be the case as solicitors often act on conditional fee agreements, which is the posh name for a No Win, No Fee.

These types of agreements are based on the outcome of a case- win or lose. They were originally brought in to fill the gap between those that were eligible for legal aid and those that could afford to pay for legal representation however, they are now extremely common as it allows solicitors to still recover the same fees without having to charge their clients.

So how do they work? Many people often find it difficult to understand how they can pursue a claim, receive compensation (which in some cases is a large sum) and not have a bill to pay. To many it seems strange for a solicitor to be doing so much work for them but not sending them a bill. But please do not worry- we do get paid (after all we are still a business).
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Making  a claim for compensation following a Road Traffic Accident is now so much easier and quicker than it used to be, if your accident was on or after 30^th April 2012.

The Ministry of Justice introduced a new protocol to follow for these accidents: “The Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents”. I know, bit of a mouthful so let’s just say the Road Traffic Accident Protocol for now. This protocol is for claims for personal injury which are worth under £10,000.

The claim is started by submitting a Claims Notification Form. This is a form which contains your information, the information of the at fault party, the details of your injuries and treatment and the accident details. This is sent to the insurer of the at fault party electronically.
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Factories can be fairly dangerous places to work – whether it is moving parts on machines, forklift trucks zipping from place to place or just things left laying around that you could fall over, the factory environment is not always a safe one.

There are many potential injuries in a factory and if you work in one your employers has a responsibility to keep you safe while you are there. Employers should provide their employees with the correct safety equipment and training that will allow them to work in as safe an environment as possible.

One of the measures that employers should use to keep you safe is “PPE” or Personal Protective Equipment. These are items provided to you by your employer to work with or use which should allow you to keep as safe as possible while in the workplace.
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There are a lot of horror stories out there about 100% compensation turning into a “nightmare” as solicitors come after the case and take all the compensation away to cover their fees.

However, this is far from the truth here at The injury lawyers, as we GUARANTEE you 100% of your compensation and there is a reason why we can do this.

The standard conditional fee agreement (The No Win No Fee) states that a solicitor will seek to recover fees from the other side. This all seems well and good, but the word seek leaves you open to the possibility that if they have trouble recovering fees from the other side, they are able to come to you for the shortfall. So say the solicitors costs are £5000.00 and the other side agree to pay £3000.00m the shortfall of £2000.00 may have to be covered by yourself. Of course, many reputable solicitors may not do this – however there is always the possibility that they CAN. Many solicitors hold this power to charge you.
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Whiplash injuries can range from the very minor to the severe and debilitating. Therefore, it is important that you seek the help of a expert personal injury solicitor to ensure that the compensation you receive is the right amount.

Compensation is awarded based on the severity of your injury and how long this will affect your everyday life, so it is important that the right amount is awarded – if you settle and then are still suffering you may statutory barred from bringing another claim (for the same accident) or trying to reopen or continue the original claim.

As well as personal injury solicitors, there are a number of claims management companies that will try and get you to instruct them. Similarly, your insurance company will also try to refer you to a solicitor and finally, there is also the possibility that the third party will try and capture you. All of the above may also say that they can get you the optimum amount of compensation but there may be more to this than first meets the eye.
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If you are pursuing, or have pursue in the past, a personal injury compensation claim, then you are more than likely aware of the importance of medical reports. A medical report is key in any personal injury claim as it helps Solicitors and Barristers to properly value your claim.

If a medical report is wrong, incomplete or inaccurate then this could have serious repercussions for you and your payout. Obviously this is why we always check if you are happy with a medical report before disclosing it to the other side. Once a report is disclosed to the other side you cannot seek to get the report amended. A medical report is only disclosed to the other side once you have confirmed that you agree with its contents.

So, if you receive a medical report and you are not happy with it, what can you do? First of all you should take some time in studying the report, bearing in mind that a medical expert will have got the information from you at examination and he or she may have also used information from medical records such as GP and Hospital records, accident reports etc. You should clearly state to your Solicitor which parts of the medical report you agree with and which parts of the medical report you do not agree with. Also state the reasons why you do not agree with certain parts of the report. Simply saying “I do not agree with the report” is not really of much help.
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A pre-medical offer is an offer made by the Defendant’s insurer to settle your claim without the need for medical evidence in support of your injuries.

These offers are usually made when the accident is pretty straight forward, liability is not an issue, and the insurer just wants the case off their desk. If you have a legal representative, they should inform you of the risks of accepting such an offer once it has been made.

Basically, the main issue we at The Injury Lawyers have with pre-medical offers is that, if accepted, you never know if this accurately reflects the amount of compensation you deserve.
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In any personal injury claim, the amount of compensation you will receive is not a figure just plucked out of the air; the figures are based on your representative’s expertise and experience but also from the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines.

This is a set of guidelines which are used in order to help your legal representative to assess your claim and the value of it.

The assessment of compensation for your injuries will consider the following:
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Tripping accident claims are probably one of the most common types of claims that personal injury Lawyers deal with.

We often see defects in the pavement and if such a defect causes you to trip and sustain injury, then it is your right to bring a claim for compensation. These claims have received a substantial amount of bad press but that should not prevent people from bringing a genuine claim. I guess the main difficulty is filtering out fraudulent claims but this applies to all claims, not just tripping claims.

In the past certain roads have become notorious as multiple claims have been made against the respective Council for accidents occurring on the same road. This can raise eyebrows as the respective Council would usually repair the defect and it appears more than coincidence when you are talking about a number of claims on the same area of pavement etc. Notwithstanding the above, a person should not be discouraged from bringing a genuine claim.
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Whatever your profession, the place where you work is likely to contain various hazards that may cause you to suffer an injury. Of course if you work with machinery there are the fairly obvious dangers of moving parts to watch out for and if you work in a place where vehicles are common place then you will need to watch out for traffic. However, there are many unobvious hazards in a workplace that you could fall foul of and a question that we at The Injury Lawyers are often asked is; “Can I claim against my employer?”

The answer is that while you are at work your employers have a responsibility to keep you safe from hazards that it is within their power to prevent – for instance, they should provide guards to cover the moving parts of machinery and therefore reduce the risk of you injuring yourself. So if you are injured as the result of an accident at work then yes you could be entitled to claim against your employer.

However, that is not the end of the story and for most people contemplating a claim against their employer they will be worried about losing their job or suffering at work as a result. In actual fact, employers have responsibilities in this respect as well. All employers are required to hold insurance policies that cover their employees under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.
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