CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE SOLICITORS - LEGAL AID FRANCHISED

Making a claim for compensation for personal injury is no easy task for the lay-person. Most High Street lawyers are not specialist clinical negligence solicitors and will shy away from most medical cases due to the expertise necessary to succeed. This is why our specialists are all members of the Law Society panel of medical negligence experts. Less than 1% of lawyers are able to qualify for panel membership which requires detailed individual knowledge, considerable experience, settlement of a large number of substantial claims and backup from a highly resourced law firm together with an annual program of continual professional education taking the form of lectures and seminars throughout the year. Only a Law Society panel member is entitled to apply to the Legal Services Commission for public funding using the legal aid scheme.

Legal aid is available for these cases however it is means tested and only those on a low income will qualify. A minor (a person less than 18 years old) will almost always qualify for legal aid as it is the minor's income that counts and not the parent’s income. Notwithstanding availability most working people will not qualify for public funding and for this reason we have developed a system of private funding that enables you to make a claim using the no win no fee scheme. In a nutshell, if you do not win your case, you do not pay our clinical negligence solicitors a penny for their legal fees however they may ask you to contribute to the cost of medical records, medical reports and court fees as the claim continues.

The question of whether or not a healthcare professional has acted improperly is one that taxes the courts every day. There are over 20,000 outstanding claims against the NHS at any one time valued in excess of £6,000,000,000 and the insurers defend almost every case. A doctor is negligent if he has failed to attain the levels of skill and care displayed by other similar medical professionals. A doctor is not negligent if there are several treatment methods and his choice of treatment fails, provided that a body of other professionals supports his view and that the method stands up to logical analysis.

The limitation Act 1980 requires that cases are settled or proceedings are issued in a court of law within three years of the incident giving rise to the claim being discovered, failing which the opportunity to claim compensation may be lost forever. There are some exceptions to the general rule, including minors and the mentally infirm, however you should not delay in taking legal advice from specialist clinical negligence solicitors. Memories fade and books and records are lost or destroyed and the sooner you take action the less likely your case is to fail due to lack of evidence.

If you have suffered personal injury and you fear you may have been the victim of incompetence or negligence then there is no time for delay. In order to know what options you have you should seek expert legal advice as soon as possible. Our solicitors operate a free service whereby you can meet us in person or chat over the telephone with one of our friendly experts and obtain initial advice. If you subsequently decide to proceed no further then that is your right and you will not be charged for our initial advice.