Internet Newsletter for Lawyers
May/June 2005, by Delia Venables

Contrary to popular belief, conducting Claimant personal injury work on a large scale is not easy especially when 100% of the work is conducted on a conditional fee basis. Continuous monitoring and risk assessment is needed. “No hope” cases are not taken on and I can safely say that any firm that took on the stupid cases reported in the red tops would be out of business within 12 months!

By the middle of 2002, however, my Partner, Andrew Twambley, and I had reached an impasse. We had a lean mean fighting machine that we were managing efficiently but we were not happy with the quality of the work coming in. The late 1990s had seen the rise of the dreaded accident management companies such as Claims Direct and The Accident Group. These firms launched huge marketing campaigns to attract personal injury claims and then 'sold' the claims to desperate Solicitors. The problem was that it was in their interest to get Solicitors to take on as many of the cases as possible so the temptation to alter the facts of a case, exaggerate the injury or just plain fabricate a claim was great.

Why should the poor solicitor take the loss when rubbishy cases are handed on?

Andrew and I thought long and hard and eventually, in conjunction with our in-house chartered accountant, Denise Wilkinson, came up with a business model which we thought was as near perfect as possible to operate in what can often be a murky and unethical market.

Injury Lawyers 4U was born towards the latter part of 2002 and consisted originally of a consortium of 22 firms who raised an initial budget of £1,000,000 to form the company. The company has a website at www.injurylawyers4U.co.uk and also advertises heavily on TV and in the press.

The key selling point of the company is no “loans... no credit... no catch” together with the fact that clients will be dealing straight away with a specialist firm of solicitors.

As to says on the site:
“Our clients will not be asked to sign any credit agreements for "insurance policies", nor take out any long term loans at a high rate of interest. When our clients receive their settlement cheques, there will be no such deductions, which can often lead to dissatisfaction and a substantial reduction in the damages received.”

“When we receive your details, you will be dealt with directly by that member firm. All firms are regulated by the Law Society who insist on strict adherence to professional and ethical practices, so you can be assured that your claim will be dealt with properly.”

All calls taken by the call centre or via the web site are allocated to the firms on a strict rota basis in proportion to each firm's contribution to the scheme. The Company is not allowed to make a profit and it operates at less than 3% admin fees.

We also came to the early conclusion that, as Solicitors, we should employ specialists to do what they do best. All the TV ads are produced by a professional film making Company. All advertising space is booked through a professional media buyer (there are over 150 adverts per day). All calls are initially dealt with by a UK based call centre which operates 24/7.

By mid 2003 it was clear that £1,000,000 was not enough and the scheme was opened up to other firms which produced a budget of £7,000,000 and a panel of 200 firms.

Role of the Internet

As far as Clients are concerned, we have seen a steady increase in referrals via the internet. The referrals from the net work out considerably cheaper than those generated by direct response TV advertising although the latter produces a greater volume and also contributes a useful element of branding.

Injury Lawyers 4U is now the number one Solicitors consortium in the country and looks set to stay that way.

Martin Cockx is a Solicitor and Partner with Manchester based www.amelans.co.uk and can currently be seen in the BBC series No Win No Fee.
Email m.cockx@amelans.co.uk.

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