Over the last week or so the Government have been concerned by the exchanging of referral fees between Solicitors with Claims Management Companies, Accident Recovery Companies and indeed Motor Insurers. Insurers also now seem to be confessing more about the true nature of their arrangements.
It is very surprising that the Government now only claim to have been concerned as the practice of referral fees has been occurring for many years following a change in the Law Society Rules which permitted the payment of a fee for the referral of work.
The change in the rules was accompanied with safeguards that were intended to ensure that the client was no worse off if a referral fee was paid. However at Rogers & Norton we have remained concerned by this and it is for that reason that we have taken a view as part of our business management and ongoing development plans that we will not entertain referral fees in personal injury and clinical negligence cases.
Although currently not illegal to pay a referral fee, providing a declaration of that fee is made to the client, our concern has always been how that referral fee is budgeted for when deciding how the work will be undertaken. Quite simply, if an insurer is being paid by a Solicitor £800.00 for a personal injury referral and that Solicitor only recovers £1,200.00 for his fees on that case, before any expenses of undertaking the work are accounted for the Solicitor is only going to receive a maximum of £400.00 for his fees. In our opinion the only way that the work can then be done is by automating the complete process and providing the client with a Call Centre or an On Line means of noting progress on their case. The expertise is stripped out from the case, the client is not given the best representation and ultimately the client may suffer.
It is for these reasons that Rogers & Norton have decided that referral fees are not an appropriate means of obtaining new work as they are quite simply not in the best interest of their client.
Why are Rogers & Norton different? Quite simply we provide the client with an expert personal injury lawyer who is their main point of contact throughout the case. Whilst we will communicate by email and use all means of electronic communication we are also at the end of a phone line and sitting behind our desk at the office to see the client and answer the questions that they may have. Importantly because we are not concerned by the payment of a high referral fee we can take time to fully assess the claim and ensure that each case is appropriately investigated and areas of injury are not missed because of time constraints or as a result of inexperienced lawyers looking at the case.
We at Rogers & Norton sincerely hope that the referral fee system will now come under more scrutiny and that clients will finally see the true cost to them of their case being referred to an insurer’s chosen solicitor who is often the chosen solicitor because they are prepared to draw the biggest cheque!
If you have a case that you wish to discuss please contact us on our enquiry form on our website at http://www.rogers-norton.co.uk/make-a-claim.htm we would be delighted to speak to you.
Alternatively, for further information please contact the Personal Injury Department at pi@rogers-norton.co.uk
It is very surprising that the Government now only claim to have been concerned as the practice of referral fees has been occurring for many years following a change in the Law Society Rules which permitted the payment of a fee for the referral of work.
The change in the rules was accompanied with safeguards that were intended to ensure that the client was no worse off if a referral fee was paid. However at Rogers & Norton we have remained concerned by this and it is for that reason that we have taken a view as part of our business management and ongoing development plans that we will not entertain referral fees in personal injury and clinical negligence cases.
Although currently not illegal to pay a referral fee, providing a declaration of that fee is made to the client, our concern has always been how that referral fee is budgeted for when deciding how the work will be undertaken. Quite simply, if an insurer is being paid by a Solicitor £800.00 for a personal injury referral and that Solicitor only recovers £1,200.00 for his fees on that case, before any expenses of undertaking the work are accounted for the Solicitor is only going to receive a maximum of £400.00 for his fees. In our opinion the only way that the work can then be done is by automating the complete process and providing the client with a Call Centre or an On Line means of noting progress on their case. The expertise is stripped out from the case, the client is not given the best representation and ultimately the client may suffer.
It is for these reasons that Rogers & Norton have decided that referral fees are not an appropriate means of obtaining new work as they are quite simply not in the best interest of their client.
Why are Rogers & Norton different? Quite simply we provide the client with an expert personal injury lawyer who is their main point of contact throughout the case. Whilst we will communicate by email and use all means of electronic communication we are also at the end of a phone line and sitting behind our desk at the office to see the client and answer the questions that they may have. Importantly because we are not concerned by the payment of a high referral fee we can take time to fully assess the claim and ensure that each case is appropriately investigated and areas of injury are not missed because of time constraints or as a result of inexperienced lawyers looking at the case.
We at Rogers & Norton sincerely hope that the referral fee system will now come under more scrutiny and that clients will finally see the true cost to them of their case being referred to an insurer’s chosen solicitor who is often the chosen solicitor because they are prepared to draw the biggest cheque!
If you have a case that you wish to discuss please contact us on our enquiry form on our website at http://www.rogers-norton.co.uk/make-a-claim.htm we would be delighted to speak to you.
Alternatively, for further information please contact the Personal Injury Department at pi@rogers-norton.co.uk
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