February 01, 2011 at 1:53 PM

January 2011 was an excellent month for settled claims at BLB Solicitors.

Two claims particularly stand out, both claims that we had taken over because the client was unhappy with their previous solicitors.

In one, the client's previous firm of Solicitors (and a Barrister!) had advised the client to accept an offer of settlement of £15,000.  Fortunately, at that point she contacted us and a little over a year (of very hard work!) later, we had turned the claim around and last week were delighted to send her a cheque for £180,000.  The other was a very similar story, where the client's previous firm of solicitors had advised him to accept an offer of £25,000.  He has now received a cheque for £150,000.

So in each case, why was the standard of advice provided by the previous solicitors so bad?

Quite simply, each client had been the victim of inexperienced people handling their claim.  In each case it was clear that these claims handlers had little understanding of the client's medical condition and the likely effect that the condition was going to have upon the client's life in the future.  Further, they were relying upon poor medical evidence.  This is often the result of solicitors using third party medical agencies, rather than instructing respected medical consultants direct.

In one of the claims in particular, there was also a strong suggestion that settling the claim as quickly as possible was a more important factor to the claims handler than achieving the best possible result for the client.

BLB Solicitors do not make promises to deal with claims quickly.  We do however promise to deal with claims properly.  That includes thoroughly investigating every possible effect of the accident upon the client's life, both now and in the future, and obtaining appropriate expert and other evidence to substantiate each and every aspect of the claim.

However, our job is also to anticipate the Defendant's own case and to be ready to deal with their inevitably searching questions and requests for information.

Only by this methodical and tactical approach can a claim be properly put together and the very best result be achieved for the client.  The two settled claims mentioned above are surely proof that this approach works!