Risk management

Get your fax straightWatch that fax machine carefully - the Solicitors Indemnity Fund continues to receive claims arising from failed transmissions.

Mick was instructed by Ms Z, an Afghan woman seeking refugee status in the UK after fleeing the fundamentalist Taliban regime.Early last year, a special adjudicator dismissed her asylum appeal.

The Immigration Appellate Authority sent the written decision to Mick, with a covering letter saying that any application for leave to appeal should be received by the Immigration Appeal Tribunal within five working days.Mick instructed counsel to settle the grounds of appeal.

The barrister returned the papers as quickly as possible, but by the time they were engrossed the last day had arrived.

Mick noticed that details of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal's address included a fax number.

He got his secretary Janet to fax the documents over, but the line seemed to be permanently engaged.

Janet stood over the fax while it automatically redialled the number.Two hours and countless failed operations later, Janet was so concerned she phoned the tribunal, but there was no reply.

The next day Mick rang the tribunal.

They apologised - their fax had been out of order for days.

The officer on the other end of the phone gave Mick an alternative fax number and said the application would be accepted if it was sent through without further delay.Janet sent the application through right away.

The next day, Mick was furious to receive a fax from the tribunal stating bluntly that it has no power to consider applications not received within the period specified by the Asylum Appeals (Procedure) Rules 1996.

'The matter is now closed and the file has been put away,' the letter concluded.Mick marched back to his office where he barked out three documents: instructions to counsel to advise on remedial action, a report form to SIF and - last but by no means least - a new set of office procedures on the use of fax machines.X The recipient's fax machine may not be working.

A phone call to advise that a fax is on the way and check the lines are clear can make all the difference.X When you are up against a strict time limit, how will you deliver documents if fax transmission fails? Consider alternatives like hand delivery or, if the recipient is a long way away, the use of agents.

X For information on claims prevention, contact your claims handler at the Solicitors Indemnity Fund or the Risk Improvement Unit; tel: 0171 566 6000.