News

8 April 2009

Legal & Medical Conference concludes 'law is out of touch'

The Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) silence on the reform of law for damages in personal injury cases has been "truly deafening" according to APIL President Amanda Stevens, in her keynote address at last week's Legal & Medical Conference.

She said, "When the Government first announced the consultation numerous organisations responded, yet if you click on the Ministry of Justice website you will find reference to the issue under the page miserably titled 'Closed Consultations - Awaiting Response'. It really isn't good enough."

Amanda added that there are too many "outrageous examples of where the law is out of touch with the needs of modern society," especially in fatal accident claims.

"Why is it still cheaper for the courts to consider that a loss of a life is less valuable than causing someone injury? We have much urgent reform to be accomplished in this sensitive area," she said.

Now in its third year, the Legal & Medical conference (held on 2 April at the Royal Society of Medicine, London) was chaired by Robin de Wilde QC and entitled 'A Health Check for the Medico-Legal Industry'. This certainly proved to be the case, raising a number of questions over the speed of MoJ reform work and how successful the sector has been so far in leading its own initiatives to improve access to justice for claimants.

Henry Bellingham MP, an authority on personal injury law and Shadow Minister for Justice, gave a topical and – for the MoJ – controversial speech, which proved popular amongst delegates and sparked much debate in the question and answer session that followed.

Topics also addressed included an update on the Law Lords' controversial ruling on Pleural Plaques compensation provided by Nicholas Bevan of Bond Pearce LLP and Martin Bare, Chair of APIL; and the costs involved in personal injury cases delivered by Paul Shenton of Just Costs, who cautioned that "Whether it's recovering CMC charges or improving liquidity, personal injury lawyers need to act like managers if they want to survive the current economic climate."

Mike Doyle of Doyle Raizner LLP provided an update on the US personal injury system, outlining what he called the 'Obama effect'. He suggested that with the advent of more elected Democrat judges there would be more "claimant friendly" litigation, catching up with policy in the UK. His presentation also highlighted the gulf in technological advances between the two countries, and said that UK court systems need to catch up.

Other speakers included Andrew Underwood of Keoghs LLP and Colin Ettinger of Irwin Mitchell who combined forces to present the insurance lawyer's versus the claimant lawyer's perspective; Morag Heighway of The UK Rehabilitation Council who updated delegates on the current UK Rehabilitation Industry Standards; and Richard Coleman of Withy King who presented the case for damages for care in serious personal injury.

The conference closed with a live role-play from Jonathan Dingle of 218 Strand, demonstrating how to avoid the medico-legal expert witness disasters that were borne out in Williams v Jervis.

As well as providing excellent opportunities for debate and networking, the conference was accredited for six CPD hours. Tim Kevan, barrister and Director of CPD Webinars, official media partner for the conference, commented, "I thoroughly enjoyed the Legal and Medical Conference; the speakers were very interesting and it provided a good opportunity to meet other people in the same field.'

For more information, visit www.legal-medical.co.uk/conference or ring 01423 851150. - ENDS -

For further media information, please contact Jane Burgess on 01423 851150 or email jane.burgess@barkerbrooks.co.uk

Note to Editors:

Amanda Steven's speech

Further details of Amanda Steven's speech are available on request, including:

liability for psychiatric illness and the failure of damages law
her disappointment at the lack of research and consultation undertaken by the government
the pilot scheme, launched by APIL, FOIL and a number of insurance companies, which avoids the need for court referral to help those severely injured (where compensation is expected to exceed £250,000)

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