News from First4Lawyers
You may have seen us in the news recently as we launched our latest White Paper, looking at how law firms are faring when it comes to the ever-changing world of social media.
We were delighted to see the fruits of the last few months reported in Law360, Legal Futures and The Professionals, among others, with more detailed features commissioned and to come in Solicitors Journal and New Law Journal.
You can find more on this and links to download the White Paper ‘TikTok or TikNot: Law firms in the social media age’ elsewhere in this newsletter.
First4InjuryClaims continues to go from strength to strength, settling more than 3,000 claims to date and recovering around £9 million in compensation for injured clients.
It is settling cases in the Official Injury Claim portal 155 days faster than the market average.
Our colleagues’ hard work was recognised recently when they were shortlisted in the ‘Claimant Team of the Year’ category, a title they won last year, at the annual Personal Injury Awards.
It was a fantastic night in Manchester catching up with old friends and new and our congratulations go to all the worthy winners.
The government published its first statutory review of the whiplash tariff this quarter, bringing more bad news for injured motorists.
In a statement to parliament, Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood announced a 15% uplift in compensation payments for soft tissue injuries, to take account of inflation. She made no other changes, save to provide further guidance on defining minor psychological injury.
Claimant representatives, however, say the uplift is not enough.
Andrew Wild, head of legal practice at First4InjuryClaims, was quoted in Legal Futures and Solicitors Journal, saying: “New government, same old outcome. Accident victims have, and will, continue to be short-changed as a result of this latest review, which does not reflect the unprecedented hike in inflation.”
Claimant representatives have raised further concerns about a new government taskforce set up to tackle rising motor insurance premiums, including the lack of a legal representative.
Andrew Wild urged ministers “to engage with those of us on the frontline” to explain how insurers’ own conduct is pushing up the cost of claims.
He told Legal Futures and Insurance Edge: “It is inevitable that the insurance industry is going to continue blaming the cost of claims for rising premiums, despite the huge savings they have made since the whiplash reforms as a result of fewer claims and lower payouts.
“The taskforce needs to resist this and instead insist on a proper breakdown of how insurers are arriving at such exorbitant figures.”
He also shared his thoughts on why RTAs are going up but the number of claims is still down in an article for Claims Media. He called for greater collaboration to raise awareness.
“The suggestion (mainly from architects of the reforms) that motorists are having fewer accidents is not borne out by the government’s own data, he said.
“The most likely reason why injured parties who could claim are choosing not to is that they either don’t know they can, don’t know how, or don’t believe it will be worth their while.”
Elsewhere, Andrew attended the SRA Compliance Conference and was also invited to contribute to a roundtable hosted by MedCo to debate ways to improve the quality of medical reports.
Director of marketing Andy Cullwick continues to share more expert insights with regular articles for Claims Media on the rising trend of zero-click searches and The Professionals on how businesses can map out the perfect customer journey.
And as Christmas approaches, we’re proud to say we’re supporting Huddersfield food bank The Welcome Centre for the fifth year running.
The business will be making its usual festive donation of £1,000 to help the charity, which last year handed out enough food to make 370,000 meals for people in crisis.
Colleagues are also taking part in a ‘reverse advent calendar’ during December, bringing in food items and toiletries each day to donate to families in need in our local area.
