Gordons Injury Lawyers

The Legal Services Board Discussion Document & Lord Young’s report to the Prime Minister.


Referral fees are quite controversial.  Until fairly recently, they were banned completely, but since the rules were relaxed, a whole plethora of companies has set up, all offering claims management services to claimants and leads provision for Solicitors.

The report given here is by the Legal Services Board, published in September 2010.  It is a preliminary working document and makes interesting reading for claimants, defendants and all those involved in the industry.  The second document is Lord Young’s report dated October 2010 addressed to the Prime Minister, and this deals with this and wider issues as well. 

Most PI Solicitors will buy their work, paying referral fees to providers.  The fees vary from £50 to as much as £1000.  Some lawyers find the idea of paying for work distasteful, others welcome it.

At Gordons, we have no objection in principle to the idea of buying work, but we do believe the industry needs much tighter regulation, especially in the sphere of advertising.  There are too many dubious companies out there, all wanting to make big profits out of peoples’ misfortunes and all too often supplying leads that are out doubtful quality, forcing Solicitors to keep raising the bar when it comes to initial acceptance criteria.  This is not necessarily a good thing, as many claims could end up being  rejected which might otherwise succeed.

If access to justice is a good thing, do referral fees help or hinder?    Is there really a compensation culture?  What steps can be taken to improve matters?  Will bringing all PI claims under £10,000 into the new rapid claims online system from April 2012 and consequent fixed costs help or hinder?  If it speeds claims up, but reduces the time Solictors can spend on each claim, is that improving justice or not?  Has Health & Safety gone crazy?  If so, what can be done to restore a balance?

This is the big debate at the moment.  Lord Young’s report, published October 2010 for the attention of the Prime Minister, addresses these issues and more.  This report, together with the Legal Services Board working paper, are both given here in full.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to use our blog.