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The `profession' (as was) only has itself to blame for the reforms in PI law. The abolition of legal aid for PI claims 20 years ago and its replacement by CFA's turned a respectable, if rather dull, part of the profession into a casino operated by spivs and crooks.

Having worked in the area of PI throughout the first 15 - 16 years of the last 20 I've been utterly horrified by what a cesspit the whole accident industry has become - bent lawyers pursuing claims they knew were fraudulent, bent lawyers owning or working hand in glove with bent credit hire / credit repair / physiotherapy / medical agency businesses - the list goes on relentlessly.

No doubt there are still many honest and decent PI practitioners (though no longer at the whiplash end of the market) but they are equally to blame for this debacle by standing by over the last few years and defending - or at least not criticising - their fellow practitioners.

And the same applies (though on a much smaller scale) with employment claims. Acting for employers I have on many occasions had to advise them to settle utterly spurious claims simply because the cost of defending them to a Tribunal is too high.

The claimants' lawyers, on their 30%, are well aware of this and are basically participating in extortion. Although the fee of £1,200 was certainly excessive there most certainly need to be fees at a level to deter purely speculative claims.

Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.