Case conundrum?

Non-lawyers at claims management firms could be left in charge of running complex personal injury cases in future as a result of government reforms, legal campaigners have claimed.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) issued a dire warning this week about the future for victims of negligence as a result of the Legal Aid Bill and the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases.

“Proposed reforms to the way people can fund legal cases plus a ban on referral fees is an ominous formula which could lead to marketing men at claims management companies actually running personal injury cases,” says APIL president, David Bott.

“If proposals going through Parliament come into force, new options for funding legal cases will be available and will allow inexperienced and unqualified people to start running cases until the point they go to court. Claims management companies are very good at advertising legal services, but they’re not lawyers. These businesses won’t be making any money from referral fees after they are banned, so will need to do something else to survive.

“Changes in the current Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will open the door for them to start handling cases themselves.”

APIL called for personal injury to be made a “reserved activity”—only open to appropriately qualified legal professionals—in its response to the Legal Services Board consultation, “Enhancing consumer protection”, which closed for comments at the beginning of November.

Bott says: “A claims management company would need to settle a case to recover the costs and stay in business.

“The case would have to be taken over by a solicitor when it gets as far as court, so they will want to settle before it gets that far. This could mean cases are under-settled and injured people don’t receive all the damages they need for their future care.”