Avoiding Common Accidents

Every year, around 2.5 million people in the UK are injured as a result of an accident which wasn’t their fault, but less than a third of accident victims make a claim for damages. If you have suffered any kind of personal injury, it is crucial that you seek expert independent advice from someone who can assess your compensation claim and help you receive the full amount you are entitled to.

Claims assessors usually offer their services on a ‘contingency fee’ basis, meaning that they take a proportion of your won compensation in lieu of their fee (if you win nothing, they get nothing), whereas if you go direct to a specialist solicitor, they are more likely to offer a ‘no win, no fee’ service with a guarantee that you will receive 100% of the compensation. (They recover their fees on top of the claim from the insurance company of the negligent party, so the claim is risk-free.)

Another advantage is that all solicitors have insurance against negligence. Depending on the type of injury, the appointed solicitor should be a certified member of the Law Society’s personal injury or clinical negligence accreditation scheme. Most solicitors specialising in this arena will be members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Most law professionals belonging to APIL are part of an accreditation scheme which guarantees its members have expertise in a particular aspect of personal injury.

The term ‘no win no fee’ can be a little misleading because the implication is that if you do not win the case, you will not need to pay anything. In most cases, however, losing the case means having to cover the legal costs of the other party. One way of getting around this is by taking out after-the-event (ATE) insurance. Anyone seeking compensation for a personal injury claim should seek legal aid or go to their local Citizens Advice Bureau in the first instance.