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@Anonymous
Commented on: 5 January 2017 23:58 GMT:

"....Of course there was a gravy train. I was part of it, so I should know. .."

You and many. I knew a Trainee that I took the LSF with who (pre CFA / abolition of the rules against Maintenance and Champerty), who went to work in an early factory and was given a cynical 12 weeks non contentious experience so they could bill at higher rates than Legal Execs then.

Most Trainees used High Street PI to train on and then move on from.

".....In the days when CFA's first came in (the worst thing that ever happened to personal injury claims) it was exceptionally easy with those absurd success fees to bill £300 an hour or more for pathetically simple grunt work. .."

That was supposed to contain an element of risk for those files that didn't pay out though. Had they retained the non adverting stance then this may have been successful as a High Street Firm would have would still be taking claims on a case by case basis through the door so to speak and investigating, the Insurance Companies forced to indemnify like Limited Legal Aid Certificates for that period. Some they win some they lose on. But all too easy to corrupt and make BTE and ATE's financial 'products' and we all know what happened to most of Banks/Insurers and the sales-persosn on commission selling those ....

".....I was always receiving emails from recruiters offering me PI fee-earners (many unqualified) looking for salaries of £30k to £40k who were grossing £200k to £300k. All you needed to do was fill an industrial unit with such people and you had a money making machine like no other. ..."

As I said the firm my mate went to work at but no names and as if that wasn't going to be easily predictable (without hindsight). ...

".....This is why PI work became such a corrupt industry. There was way too much easy money sloshing around, and it attracted shysters like sh*t attracts flies. They in turn spawned all the offshoots of corruption – the credit hire companies owned by solicitors, CMC’s, occupational therapists who were indirectly employed by solicitors, doctors who wrote `medical reports’ that were full of lies because that’s what their paymasters demanded, etc etc. ..."

Well in reality could this not have been predicted?

"...And yes, that gravy train has now well and truly hit the buffers. I'm afraid that firms like Thompsons are likely to be insolvent within a couple of years, quite possibly less. .."

Maybe not if they are ethical and remain ethical. It will be interesting to see what happens to Simpson Millar now they have lost their USDAW base and moved firmly into the envisaged ABS 'market' ...

"...Despite my criticism of the industry as it now is that really is a crying shame. Before the industry was corrupted - when people got paid a reasonable amount for a reasonable job - firms like Thompsons were quite rightly respected as genuine professionals. ..."

They were indeed.

".....The cretins in government that decided CFA's were a good replacement for legal aid should be hanging their heads in shame. But no doubt they are all now knights of the realm, dripping with various `honours'. ..."

Not just the HM Govt., but one previous venerable institution at 113 Chancery Lane as well .....