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I also worked as a claimant lawyer in this `industry' for about 25 years. When I started it was simply another area of work, and both we and the insurers practised professionally. We would regularly have meetings with their negotiators, who were experienced men who often knew more about personal injury law than many of the solicitors with whom they were negotiating.

It was common practice to reach agreement on two or three claims at the same meeting, and amazing as it may now seem we would often also agree costs. We’d shake hands, and a few days later the cheques would arrive.

We got to know the negotiators, and there was a high degree of mutual trust and respect. They knew that we would not pursue claims that were bent, and in return they would surprisingly often agree to settle a claim that was genuine but with evidential difficulties.

It's impossible to expect any young lawyer working in PI to believe this, but the system actually worked pretty well overall. We got paid a reasonable amount in costs, and although there would invariably be a shortfall between what we asked for and what we received it would never have occurred to us to deduct any costs from the client's damages.

Crucially, in those days solicitors who practised in PI were still professional people. No doubt there are some still left, but if so they must feel desperately out of place.

The rot set in with the abolition of legal aid for PI claims and its replacement with CFA's. This was a complete disaster, and its aftermath has effectively destroyed this sector of the profession. Firms like Claims Direct and The Accident Group suddenly arrived on the scene, scenting easy money, and to the shame of the solicitors involved they sold out to them and willingly grabbed the 30 pieces of silver on offer.

For several years afterwards much of the PI work was still run by professionals, but then the second disastrous decision was made to allow the recovery of success fees and ATE insurance from the insurers instead of the client.

This really did open Pandora's Box. Suddenly there were small firms of solicitors springing up everywhere in the poorest areas of towns, their windows plastered with offers of iPads or hundreds of pounds in cash for a PI claim. The cash on offer for solicitors for running pathetic, often fictional claims was absurdly generous, and all the rogues and charlatans with a practising certificate lined up to fill their boots.

I recall at the time regularly receiving emails from recruitment agents advertising candidates who were grossing £300k and who were looking for salaries of around £35k - £40k. I often thought that what I should do was rent a large industrial unit and fill it with such people. Some firms did exactly that, and made millions.

But the government weren't satisfied that their criminal stupidity had created a massive potential for fraud; they had to think of a way of facilitating and spreading it, so they came up with the brilliant idea that it was now OK for us to pay referral fees.

The claims management industry was invented, which was the final nail in the coffin. Never have so many scumbags and villains been so richly rewarded by a government. Suddenly we had credit car hire, credit repairs, medical report agencies - and many of them owned by those same greedy, unethical solicitors who just couldn't believe their luck.

This was when I gave up doing PI work. And since then I've watched it descend further and further into the cess pit.

I do feel some sympathy for the few genuine professionals who are left, but in general terms I'm only too glad if this move kills off a rotten and corrupt industry.

The LS's statements have always lacked credibility. People won't be desperately queuing outside the court or struggling their way through the legal system, simply because 90% of them would never even have thought of bringing a claim if they hadn't been told it was free cash for no effort.

As someone said above people suffer minor injuries all the time but in most cases they aren’t actually out of pocket as a result. Yes, they’ll have the cash if it’s offered to them on a plate, but they’re not bothered that they would pursue it by themselves.

And if they do have a genuine claim they will always find a lawyer willing to take it on. But because the client is paying it will impose the same discipline on those lawyers that the rest of us have always had to accept, namely that we have to actually prove to the client that we’re worth what we’re being paid. This will come as a severe shock to a lot of PI lawyers used to extracting payment from insurers, who may suddenly realise that their true financial value is somewhat less than they might have imagined.

The only unfortunate aspect of it all is that it will add even more to the imbalance between rich and poor. The one `benefit' of the industry is that it worked as a crude redistribution of wealth from insurance companies to the poorest areas in the country, and therefore gave a small amount of financial support to those communities.

Still, whenever gravy trains hit the buffers there’s bound to be some collateral damage.

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