The essential guide to conduct, compliance and competence, and the Legal Services Act
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SRA calls on government to provide more clarity over referral fee ban
The government needs to provide further clarity and guidance on how the ban on referral fees will operate in practice, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned. Issues such as the definition of a referral fee need to be resolved.
MPs seek action over PI lawyers’ fees but question value of referral fee ban
MPs have accused personal injury solicitors and insurers of losing sight “of the interests of their customers as a whole by encouraging claims to be maximised”. They called for action over the level of fees paid to lawyers while questioning the effectiveness of the referral fee ban.
RTA portal chairman cautious over PM’s plan to extend the scheme
The company that manages the road traffic accident claims portal has issued a cautious response to David Cameron’s announcement last week that he wants to extend the scheme, saying it is at the moment impossible to estimate how long the work would take.
Cameron pledges to extend portal to bigger claims and other areas of PI – just don’t ask which ones
The government is to extend the upper limit of the road traffic accident portal to £25,000, while similar fixed-fee schemes are to be introduced into other, as yet unspecified, areas of personal injury, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.
Peers bid to introduce statutory control of third-party “capture” and tighten up referral fee ban
Peers have launched a bid to curb third-party capture of potential claimants by insurance companies, and also spell out the proposed referral fee ban in greater detail – while carving out an exception for payments to provide a pooled marketing service.
Scrap qualified one-way costs-shifting, says Allianz
Plans to introduce qualified one-way costs-shifting (QOCS) in personal injury litigation should be scrapped, one of the country’s leading insurance companies has told Legal Futures. Allianz – the first insurer to back away from an aspect of the Jackson reforms – found support from a top claimant lawyer.
Acorn Law to launch into PI market with pledge not to pay or charge referral fees
The first law firm launched in direct response to the government’s decision to ban referral fees in personal injury cases is set to go live. Acorn Law is pledging not to pay referral fees or charge them to other suppliers.
CMCs will start running – and under-settling – cases to survive, lawyers warn
Changes to the personal injury landscape mean that claims management companies and others may step out of regulation altogether to run cases which commercial pressures may lead them to under-settle, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has warned.
Why is marketing fine except when done by CMCs?
Introducing work to others is a common part of business life – just another cost that businesses incur in ‘selling’ their product. Law firms incur plenty of costs this way. So, asks Barbara Hamilton-Bruce, why is it different for claims management companies? Is their behaviour so abhorrent that the government should consider banning it?
Peripheral vision
There was a time when it looked like the Jackson report was heading for the long grass. Instead, it has now been embraced almost in its totality by the Coalition government, with the referral fee ban being the piece of the famously “interlocking” reforms that few had expected to see until very recently. Though Lord Justice Jackson himself is becoming peripheral to their implementation, PI lawyers need to be planning now for a very changed future.
