Importance of Personal Injury Lawyers confirmed

Solicitors who specialise in Personal Injury are welcoming findings from a national survey that not only challenge the stereotypical perception of the work they do, but also highlight real dangers with the future of the profession.

The Law Society’s Strategic Research Unit has announced the results of a survey it conducted into the experiences of 1,200 injury victims and the value they placed on the legal advice and representation they received.

While 83% of respondents said they felt it was very important that they received legal advice on their case and well over half were sure the compensation they received was greater with the help of a solicitor, it wasn’t all good news for some law firms.

The overwhelming majority of cases (95%) had used the solicitor they were referred to by their insurance or claims company, leaving a diminutive amount of clients that sought legal advice based on personal recommendation or previous experience.

‘It cannot be denied that this statistic is of great concern to the Personal Injury departments of many legal firms such as ours,’ says Allison Hampshire, Head of the Personal Injury Team for one of Southampton’s largest legal firms, Eric Robinson Solicitors. ‘Even though the survey shows that over three quarters of its respondents felt they would not have had the confidence to bring a case without legal representation and we are fortunate to have a constant stream of cases, it would be foolish to ignore this trend. People should be able to make an informed choice and not be locked into an alliance between an insurance company and its panel solicitors.’

One of Allison’s local clients, Mrs Rae Walker, was involved in a horrific car accident with her husband when a driver collided head on with their vehicle, hospitalising them with severe injuries.

‘We were not in a mental or physical state to do anything about our situation,’ she recalls. ‘My brother-in-law lived near Eric Robinson Solicitors and went in asking for help. Allison took the time to come to see us in hospital, introduced herself and got to know us. She subsequently achieved a great deal for us. I would have felt very uncomfortable just using someone that a stranger told me to.’

Although two thirds of the survey’s respondents shared Mrs Walker’s views in saying they felt they had been treated more fairly as a result of legal representation and 76.7% would choose the same solicitor again, how many people will have the opportunity to do so in future?

‘Most people are unaware that using a referred solicitor may represent a good deal for the issuance company, but not always for the individual,’ says Allison. ‘This survey shows there is an understanding of the importance of the work we do, but not of the current monopoly governing the profession .’