Woolham: Growth strategy
Leading personal injury (PI) law firm Minster Law has launched a network called PiRPLE for law firms looking to pass on serious injury cases.
It will consider intermediate and multi-track personal injury cases from £25,000 through to serious and catastrophic injury claims valued at more than £1m.
Firms that join the network have access to a secure digital recommendation process that is compliant with the referral fees ban, Solicitors Regulation Authority rules and data protection, with the client reviewing and submitting their information directly to Minster Law.
Where a case is assessed and accepted, participating firms have “the option to receive a recommendation fee linked to the value of the claim”.
PiRPLE has echoes of other law firm referral networks but the personal injury referral fee ban in the Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 makes compliance more of an issue – although this was not the type of arrangement that the ban was aimed at.
Chief executive Shirley Woolham said Minster operated with “zero regulatory risk appetite” and it worked with a KC to ensure compliance. This is why it is the client dealing directly with Minster, not the recommending law firm passing on their details.
She noted how specialist injury work was becoming, with specialisms within specialisms: “Many law firms will encounter serious injury cases without necessarily wanting to maintain the specialist capability needed to handle them.
“These claims require significant expertise, resource and funding over several years, while the firm may have a longstanding relationship with the client that it wants to protect.”
She added that, as a specialist PI practice, Minster would not look to compete with recommending firms for other areas of their clients’ legal work.
“As a business-to-business law firm, serious injury has been an important part of Minster Law’s growth and, with over 350 serious injury specialists, we have the capability, capacity and financial strength to take on more cases.
“PiRPLE gives us a new route to further growth through extending our partnership model to law firms across England and Wales.”
“We know it will take time to build the network. Our focus now is on developing the relationships with firms that see a role for Minster’s serious injury capability alongside their own.”
Other referral networks offer member firms additional benefits, such as training, and Ms Woolham said the offer would expand over time.
She said PiRPLE showed there was “still innovation in the PI sector – there are still opportunities to do new things and that’s exciting”.
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