Join up

It is all very well for Richard Wilson & Co, which is the only firm of solicitors listed in Pangbourne and Goring-On-Thames, to adopt a lofty attitude to personal injury work introduced by referral agencies (see [2000] Gazette, 12 October, 18).

It seems to me that the firm simply does not understand how the agencies work and the immense effect they are having on the amount of work which, in the good old days, used to come through by word of mouth.

The fact is that we live in an era of no-win, no-fee but this does not mean that the costs recovered in successful claims are any less for referred cases, such costs now being capable of enhancement (at least in theory) by the rule making success fees recoverable from the defendant's insurers.

The all-powerful pressures of television and radio advertising by referral agencies has undoubtedly diverted potential clients from the services of competent high street firms to far and wide panel solicitors.

Faced with the practical impossibilities of compliance with the overly stringent requirements of franchise and other accreditations which discriminate against small high street practices, there is no doubt that their very existence is threatened by certain referral agencies which deploy permanently sited caravans and trailers in town centres in order to net potential claimants who might otherwise use a local solicitor.

While some may find it distasteful and beneath their dignity, the stark reality is that as we cannot beat them, we had better join up as fast as possible.

Louis Brody & Co, Rochdale