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If you have been hurt in an accident that was not your fault then you may be entitled to claim compensation.  The best way to ensure that you receive the full amount that you are owed is to employ a solicitor who specialises in personal injury claims. But that then raises the question of what you need to consider when deciding which solicitor to instruct. 

There are many factors to bear in mind, the most important of which are detailed below in this handy guide prepared by the head of our personal injury team, Anna Rushton.

How to find a solicitor for a personal injury claim

The best way to find a solicitor to deal with a personal injury claim is to talk to people that you know and trust to see if they can make a recommendation.  Ask family, friends and colleagues whether they know anyone who may be able to help and whose service they can vouch for.  

You can also look at customer review sites, like Trustpilot or ReviewSolicitors, to try to find a law firm near you who have got a 4 or 5 star rating and who it might be worth talking to. 

Beware of the dangers of simply picking the first firm that you come across on the internet, as not everyone listed will have the expertise needed to deal with your claim properly. 

At Step Legal, the majority of our personal injury clients come to us on the basis of a personal recommendation, or as a result of the positive feedback left on our website or which is regularly posted to sites like Trustpilot, where our service is consistently rated as excellent.

How do I know if a personal injury lawyer is good?

This is a question that we get asked all of the time, and the best answer we can give is to look at the lawyer’s track record and see how successful they have been.  If the firm has a website, check to see if they have published details of any recent cases and of the settlements they have achieved or the size of the awards they have secured following at trial at court. 

If this is not possible, then pick up the phone and ask to speak to the head of the personal injury department to find out what their success rate is and whether they have the expertise required to handle the specific type of claim that you are looking to bring.

If you want to find out about my track record, along with the rest of the Step Legal personal injury team, then check out the success stories section of our website which contains details of just some of the cases we have handled recently and where we have helped clients to not only recover significant compensation, but to also access specialist treatment and rehabilitation.  

With Step Legal, you also have peace of mind in knowing that our personal injury service is accredited by The Law Society, which means that we are recognised as being experts in the management of personal injury claims and in providing a high level of customer care. 

Should I use a local personal injury solicitor?

You do not need to use a local lawyer if you do not want to, but it can help if you would like the option of being able to meet in person on a regular basis and if you want the convenience of being able to pop in to an office near to where you live or work to drop off paperwork and to pick up any documents that need to be signed.  

Using a local lawyer may also be beneficial if there have been other claims involving a particular employer, an NHS trust or even a stretch of road in a certain town or city, as there is more chance that a local lawyer will be aware of this and may even have already been involved in dealing with similar cases, which may give them a bit of a competitive edge.  

How do personal injury lawyers charge for their service?

Most personal injury lawyers will deal with claims on a no win, no fee basis.  What this means is that they will agree to take on your case and to not charge you any fees unless your claim is successful, in which case they will seek to recover their costs from the other side and take a percentage of your compensation by way of a ‘success fee’ to reflect the risk they have taken in backing you. 

Practice among firms varies, so it is always worth enquiring about whether this type of funding is available and if not what other options might be open to you to make accessing legal advice affordable. 

At Step Legal, we offer non win, no fee funding (also known as conditional fee funding) in the majority of personal injury cases, and have produced a useful guide which explains more about how this type of arrangement works and how the level of our success fee will be calculated.

When do you need a personal injury lawyer?

This is another question that we get frequently asked, and the honest answer is that it is advisable to seek advice from a lawyer in any case where a personal injury has been sustained.  This is for the simple reason that it may not always be obvious whether a claim may be possible and if so how much help, support and compensation you may be entitled to.

It can sometimes take many weeks or even months or years for the full extent of an injury to become clear, and failing to take specialist advice could mean that you end up missing out on the chance to make a claim, or that you settle a claim for far less than it is actually worth.  

At Step Legal, we offer all accident victims a free initial assessment to determine whether a claim is possible and then leave it up to you to decide whether you want to pursue the matter yourself or put your case in the hands of a member of our experienced team.  Just call 0800 195 6412 to arrange an appointment.

When to use a solicitor after a car accident

There are special rules on the recoverability of solicitors costs which apply to road traffic accidents where only minor whiplash or psychological injuries have been sustained, and which may mean that it does not always make financial sense for a lawyer to be used.  To find out more, take a look at a recent blog that we wrote on this subject.  

However, please note that these rules do not apply to road traffic accidents involving children or other vulnerable road users, like pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and pillion passengers, horse riders and the users of mobility scooters or e-scooters.

Need our help?

To find out more about our personal injury claims service, please contact Anna Rushton on 01782 757298 for a chat.  We can assist with:

• accidents at work;
• road traffic accidents;
• slips, trips and falls;
• injuries caused through housing disrepair;
• industrial injuries, including mesothelioma claims;
• accidents abroad;
• medical and clinical negligence;
• fatal accidents; and
• injuries sustained following an unprovoked violent attack