Posts

See you in Court!

It is in the nature what we do that you have to fight cases. A litigation practice would not be worthy of respect if at the first hint of a problem the white flag is waved. A recent case in point was an employment dispute. It involved a woman who was dismissed from an admin [keep reading...]

Person or data entry?

Do you sometimes feel you are not really a person but just a big business data entry? In an age of automated telephone systems, key-pad selections, endless “security questions”, and call-centre operatives based thousands of miles distant from the UK, you would be forgiven for having this feeling. Whether it’s a retail enquiry, or a [keep reading...]

Are people clients or commodities?

For most the 20 years and more that I have been working as a litigator, the Civil Justice system has been on the receiving end of public and private complaints. And not without good reason! Delays are systemic. Mistakes are legion. And the administration, although usually done by thoroughly decent people, is often appalling. At [keep reading...]

Give me back my quill pen, please!

Most of us have a picture in our mind of the legal world as it used to be. The picture, I suspect, is often taken from a Dickensian story featuring a long quill pen, a rolled foolscap sheet, and a wizened clerk writing an endless legal document. The new Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal [keep reading...]

Would you trust an insurance company?

I have a problem with trust. A few weeks ago, a director from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said at a conference run by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), the following: it is in everyone’s interests to have a low cost system. Like most people, I really do want to believe that [keep reading...]

Fight for every penny!

For most of my working life as a solicitor, I have queried the relationship between insurance companies and the law. Insurance companies want us to believe they are the guardians of our lives. Their advertising is littered with words and expressions suggesting they protect us, or they give us peace of mind etc etc. Whilst [keep reading...]

Damages

Damages is legalese for compensation. One of the dictionary definitions of damage is: “loss or detriment caused by hurt or injury affecting estate, condition, or circumstance”. Although this is a very old use of words, it is still close to the mark. In the real world, of course, damages, or compensation, means money, because money [keep reading...]

Costs – what does ‘No Win No Fee’ really mean?

For most clients, or potential clients, there are two inescapable questions: If I lose will the solicitors come after me for their costs? If I win, will the solicitors take a chunk out of my damages to pay their costs? If we could a categorical one word answer to these two questions our lives as [keep reading...]

The man of straw

There is no point making a claim against a man of straw. That is to say, don’t make a claim against someone who has no money or no insurance, unless it is a road traffic accident claim in which case the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB ) will deal with the claim on behalf of the [keep reading...]

Responsibility for the accident

With a road traffic accident responsibility is usually clear cut. For instance, if you are sitting at traffic lights when another car driver rams into your boot, the driver who hit you is going to struggle to escape responsibility. Or if you are a pedestrian hit by a drunk driver who mounted the pavement, the [keep reading...]