PERSONAL INJURY: association to introduce best practice model for after-the-event insurance

The new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) will this week call on its members to look beyond the realm of compensation and consider how to help clients outside the litigation process.


Speaking at APIL's annual conference in Brighton, David Marshall - managing partner of south London firm Anthony Gold - will urge delegates to adopt an holistic approach to cases, making better use of options such as mediation and rehabilitation.


He will also ask them to fight for the needs and wishes of clients to be top of the list when it comes to the proposed introduction of reviewable periodic payments.


'I believe wholeheartedly that the effective personal injury lawyer of the 21st century must focus on more than monetary compensation,' he will say. 'The tremendously difficult task of helping someone to put a disrupted life back on track means we must use every tool available.'


Mr Marshall - who takes over from Patrick Allen - will pledge to work with the Law Society to develop a 'transparent, workable and enforceable' code of conduct for personal injury cases, and with the government on ensuring 'a level playing field for all participants in the marketplace in the interests of clients'.


He will also argue for more transparency for claimant solicitors when they are considering funding arrangements, with the ultimate aim of setting up a best practice model for after-the-event insurance products and pricing.


'With no sign of the insurance industry being able to sort this out or the government willing to do so, someone has to take a lead,' he will say. 'We hope that our members support such a scheme so that they buy products from providers who are prepared to sign up for it.'


Mr Marshall takes a step up from his previous role as APIL vice-president; Irwin Mitchell partner Colin Ettinger will take his place.


Speakers at the conference included Lord Chancellor's Department minister Baroness Scotland, Forum of Insurance Lawyers president Jason Rowley and Frances O'Grady, deputy general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.