just wondering which law firm to use. i've done some research, and i think that i might know who to go with, and this person could be very good, i think that this person might be quite "niche" given the experience this person has had in successfully pursuing a case that was very very similar to mine, and i'm not even sure if this case could have been a precedent of sorts. this person is a head injury specialist who is AvMa accredited and is on Headways list, the firm is a smaller national firm. but i am just looking for other opinions or even recommendations. i'm a little bit "shy" of providing background, but suffice to say that national law firms seem to think i've a strong case, i have a fairly good awareness of things medical & i tend to agree that the case is strong. i've just "googled" as to which law firms are very clued up, experienced etc on med. negligence head injury, and google comes up with two of the Big with a capital b law firms on page 1. I think i understand the basics of what you need to look for in a firm and your solicitor. Can i just say thanks to Headway also who go above and beyond in explaining re. legal advice. Thankyou for reading.
Are there any opinions about the best law firms to... - Headway
Are there any opinions about the best law firms to use for med. negligence head injury? (could anyone recommend a firm?)
Dear EleanorS
We're pleased to see you're aware of the Headway solicitors list. We strongly recommend anyone looking to appoint a personal injury solicitor uses the list and makes their own decisions about appointing a firm that best suits their needs.
The list, which can be accessed here: headway.org.uk/legal-advice..., also includes advice and tips about what questions to ask prospective firms interested in representing you. We also recommend that you speak to at least two or three firms before making a judgement.
Best wishes,
The Headway team
Hi,
I've only ever gone down an injury litigation route once and for rather minor injuries and uninsured losses resulting from a RTA. I used a person recommended by my insurance broker. This was many years ago now and very much prior the the now common proliferation of 'no win, no fee' claims firms.
Given you are refering to head injury, then apart from the Headway list I would suggest looking at the lists that may be held by other head or brain injury charitable groups/trusts. My guess would be that any listed in more than one charity are likely to be a good bet.
Any health or accident insurer that you may have will also be likely to help you as it is in their best interest to get the best settlement for you, but beware this may be for them rather than you.
Research, research research.
Hpe this maybe of some use.
Hi. Have a look at Morrish solicitors LLP in Leeds. Martin Bare is their top guy and looked after me very well.
I would go with a larger firm with a good reputation, you could phone round and speak to them, I got a good idea of who I did and didn't want to represent us that way. You also need to see them first before instructing them properly, litigation is a long process and you need to get along well with your solicitor to help you with what can be a very emotional time. Hope you find the right one x
Thanks all, it's useful to read about other people's experiences, i take on board the advice. It's good to read that people do advise dealing with the solicitor that most suits your needs and dealing with whom you are most comfortable with. I've had the Headway advice in mind , so it's good to read again, just to reinforce.
Sporan, yes i've cross referenced form 2 lists Headway's and AvMA's, AvMA is a fantastic charity who can point you in the direction of named solicitor's at specific firms to see if they are right for you. The insurers have been good in that their preferred firm does a lot of brain injury work, but also they assured me that i find an even more suitable solicitor then they explained that it's in everyone's interests that they work with the person at a firm who is likely to bring about the most successful outcome.
Tommy D, i do like to read of personal recommendations
millie67, i agree, i'm definitely going with a national firm, and i hadn't thought to visit potential solicitors, thankyou for reminding me also that you do need to actually get along in a good way majoritively i would have thought in order to work with your solicitor effectively.
I think i've come to a decision
Regards
Eleanor S
I would only go with a headway recommended solicitor, preferably a bigger firm. You will get a much better well informed service and they know how to treat head injury people and will sympathise when you are screaming down the phone at them lol. Be prepared for a much longer battle than you may anticipate though. It's a very slow process. I was knocked off a bike and left with Bi, spas and epilepsy. My case took four years which is considered speedy
thank-you for the response. i am consistently reading 'bigger firm' now, which it will be. I've phoned AvMA a few times, they've been great (Action v Medical Accidents, fantastic charity along with Headway). yeah i read 3-5 years for a typical time span. my injuries are various, just a bit wary of mentioning them in the same breath as the legal action. i hope things are as good as they can be with yourself now, i appreciate the background given. And the same goes for everyone who replied (i tried to reply to others further down the page) Advice much appreciated.
Expect to have your character assassinated as well, the medical consultants are supposed to be unbiased, but will immediately tag you as malingering before they see evidence to the contrary, bunch of overpaid, overeducated assholes.
they do it to everyone. but i didnt know that the medical experts who will get involved will follow suit, so its good to know this as a heads up.
the hospital that put me back together again after the med. negligence were fantastic and restored my faith in the profession which could have been miraculous in itself. to have this after not having it at all for about a decade is great. and i wish that everyone could have doctors as good as ive had, communication is absolutely key, though i know this sometimes breaks down but quoting their own guidelines back to them is fairly inarguable. i have this faith but however i know that there are 2 sides to the coin. soapbox over.
The med experts provided by my solicitor were superb and unbiased, those provided by the insurance company were absolutely despicable public school numpties.
oh sorry about that.
good to know. all good to know.
sorry to tag this on, i'm just trying to raise awareness atm,
( i'm on one atm, mentioning to people), something called Robbie's Law which came into effect recently (and is going to come in handy for myself.)
i learned of Robbie's Law the other day; it relates to how there will actually be repercussions for medics now if they go back over old med. records altering and falsifying in an attempt to exonerate themselves from any malpractice.
having said that ive just got in from visiting someone staying in a fantastic hospital.
hope you are well. you read as clued up, (it probably read as patronising me mentioning life's short, of course tbi/abi survivors must surely already have this perspective without me mentioning, sorry)
ive been elsewhere these 2 years, not focusing on tbi at all, & i Really havent had much medical focus/assessment on it, but gonna have to now. (think its gonna be useful to read this forum to see how people have symptoms such as mine. hopefully i could be of some use when i waffle on)
yes thankyou for the heads up, Good you got through the process
i'm sorry that this happened. i dont think that i had the right insight in my earlier reply.
seemed like they were there to just save the insurance company money .
---------------------------------------------------------
(below is just blathering on thinking out loud rubbish, KNIFEMASTER)
i'm blinkered and focused atm, on trying to secure getting something going with a firm who has the capacity to take on my case. the only people i have found to take it on, only have one medical negligence expert as far as i can gather. i've had a refusal from a big firm explaining that the firm youre dealing with now would have already put in work, but they havent, they obtained a years extension to the time limitation for me though which i am so grateful for, but ive not signed up with them yet so to speak & not spoken to a solicitor there which is essential before you sign up, but instead of offering me that theyre really pushing (understatement) no win no fee. the extension is transferable to any firm. i really cannot say any more than this, it not being appropriate to post on social media. so its back to prospecting big time, having to sell what happened to me as a potential good case again. may or may not be fruitful, early days though. not the end of the world if it doesnt happen.
I changed solicitors in the first six months for a bigger one, they had no problem picking up and starting afresh from any work done, sounds like they don't want the work
very good to know, in truth. yeah i agree, without saying too much why (tho i could). take it easy & thanks.
reading the length of time of 6 months didnt sink in at first reading. just to say - an arduous stretch to be dealing with the type of firm that i think you are talking about. brilliant that you stuck it out and switched.
One thing one of my Physios who had huge experience of Litigation cases said to me is that you will be swimming in water infested by Piranah, so you want to employ sharks. It's a nasty cutthroat negative experience that left my screaming in the faces of some of the consultants. They do the oddest things as well. I've mentioned this before on here, but you are not allowed to make a profit on your settlement, so where you might figure that for instance you earn ten thou a year in a job, and due to the accident you can't work, so they should pay ten thou a year for the rest of your life, say that's 40 years, should equal 400 thou right? Wrong, if they give you four hundred you could make a profit on that by investing it, so they give you two hundred thousand and say that you can invest that and it will then be equal to 400 over forty years. They will try to hit you for every little thing, for instance bike brakes a little worn, knock five percent off, not wearing a helmet fifteen percent, dark clothing five percent and on and on. Oh and your life expectancy might be cut by say 20 years, great extra compo right? Wrong it wil just decrease the multiplier of the compo cos you need twenty years less money...and so on..oh yeah the government will want its benefit money back if you win, I had to pay thirty seven grand back in benefit payments because I did the government a favour and won my case! Crazy
i'm sorry to read of your experience. by rights we should be entitled to the compensation we deserve, my occupational therapist said this, good of her to say, good when physios and occupational therapists come down on our side and it's obvious. i knew about the defendants having to pay the government back whats been paid in disability living allowance. but im not sure that chunks have gone from my damages money before its even awarded. so although i am entitled, yes that awful word entitled, to the money, not for myself but like many people to support my child because i have a greatly reduced capacity to work, i am equally "in it" purely just to put an end to how this med. negligence happened because the same med. negligence happened to another lady in the same hospital, and i want to put an end to how this hospital treats people with utter contempt so yes i have interviewed if not a shark, some kind of tiger. i know it can be a bit all consuming, but i survived for a reason to be with my teenage boy the reason i survived was not to sue the nhs. ( i tell myslef!) as a rule i usually dont do weekends thinking about this, but of course i appreciate your response, it reads like youre very well versed in the litigation process and again i'm sorry it taken it out of you, as it does with many. lifes short, live it. if this litigation goes belly up i dont care.
On the flip side I should mention that as a consequence of my case I do live in a dream house and am financially secure for life. But I bloody earned it lol!
ah ha! i've only just seen this! good to read
Hi Eleanor- Dont know if you got a solicitor and which area of the country you are in. My partner had TBI as a result of car hitting him and it resulted in a massive life change at the time. We needed the best solicitor as it was our only chance so used Potter Rees(manchester) as they were TBI/accident specialists and definately knew their stuff !.The insurance companies give you a dogs life and you need someone to fight your corner HARD!. We settled fairly quick compared to some others (2 years)and could get back on with life (all be it 'different' from before) and were pleased we used a solicitor
who had fought the battle many times before. If you need any more info inbox me. good luck in the minefield! x
I've only just seen this post but in case it helps..... I as with a local firm for 5 years as a litigation friend for my young daughter. They treated her as a "fast track" case (which obviously didn't mean very fast!), but had a limitation on the amount of damages, who she saw for reports, etc. When I eventually spoke by chance to someone who advised that I change solicitors everything changed. The situation has geared up but we are getting results in the form of answers from top professionals. Not easy, not pleasant, but it's worth it.
Hi,
I've been made an offer after two years, solicitors telling me to reject it but can't give me any idea how much they think I should get if I carry on! If anyone is comfortable sharing the value if their claim to give me an idea would you inbox me? Monday deadline! Thank you!
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