Solicitors & Lawyers   Legal Issues discussed and debated

Understanding how much compensation your injury is likely to receive is an important part of all personal injury claims and often one of the most awkward to guess. The amount you receive varies depending on your circumstances and there are many things to consider.

To determine the amount your claim may be worth you must understand the types of damages you may be eligible to receive compensation from. Generally you will be eligible to receive compensation for the following; Medical care and any related expenses that may exist, loss of income due to the accident because you have been unable to work or receiving treatment for your injuries. Any permanent physical disability or disfigurement caused, loss of ability to participate in social, family or educational purposes. You can also claim for emotional upset such as stress, embarrassment, depression or any psychological impact the accident may have had on your well being.

When attempting to calculate your compensation amount it is fairly easy to work out the amount of medical expenses and loss of earnings you have suffered. It may be much harder to work out the amount owed to you through psychological issues and missed experiences due to the accident. At the beginning of negotiations your solicitor will add up the amount of medical expenses and the loss of earnings, these are commonly referred to as, ‘general damages.’

If your injuries are minor then the solicitor will decide how much to award you in relation to the, ‘general damages,’ already considered. When your injuries are particularly severe or long lasting then the amount of damages rewarded will be much greater. Loss of future earnings may also be added on at this point.

Another factor that will be considered in a personal injury claim is the amount of fault of the other party. The degree of fault by the other person is also considered when adding up the claim amount.

The concept  of Payment Protection Insurance is to help consumers feel secure that in the event of something unforeseen, they are covered for repaying their debts. But the truth about how banks and lenders use the product has emerged; it has been sold to people who are unaware, cant afford it or want it but don’t know they are ineligible. Most banks cunningly tag on PPI to any loan or credit and bank are pressured with bonus incentives to sell as much as possible.  This bad pratice has allwoed for the ability to make a PPI Claim to regain your misold PPI payments.

Theoretically, PPI is a great item for consumers, particularly in view of the rising rate of unemployment in the UK where people are being made redundant regularly. Ideally, a short spell of unemployment shouldn’t hamper your ability to repay a mortgage, but the reality is quite the opposite; lenders will avoid paying out at all costs, often claiming that an individual is not able to take advantage of the system based on some technicality.

The worst part is that customers are unaware they will never be able to make use of the insurance in the event of an emergency, for example; if you are over 65, employed or otherwise, you could not claim PPI because you are over the age of retirement. If you have a previously documented medical condition, no matter how small, you could not make use of the insurance as you will be considered a high risk customer and as you are more likely take leave on medical grounds. If you are self employed, you are considered a high risk customer, so you will not be entitled to PPI. But in any of these circumstances, banks will have no problem adding it on to a service with no intention of paying if required.

PPI can be worth more than 30% of your monthly repayments so for a 100,000 loan, over 5 years, this could work out at 500 a month that you needn’t be spending. However it is quite easy to claim back so someone who has been paying for PPI for the last 10 years on a mortgage could be entitled to a nice hefty lump sum.

Consumers have reported thousands of cases of banks exploiting the PPI system and as a result, all those wrongfully sold it are legally entitled to a full refund. Since a bank will most likely dismiss your claim no matter how many times you ask, it may be easier to recruit a legal professional to do it for you. Doing this can save you all the legwork and give your claim much more authority, most agencies work on a no-win-no-fee basis so you will not be out of pocket. Lenders are now obliged to correctly sell PPI to customers on the premises that they are not overpriced, customers can chose to opt out at any time and they are fully covered after a watchdog ruling in 2009.

In may suprise you to know that there are many roles available in the legal profession and not all the lawyers in the completed a  law degree. 18.5% of a poll of 7000 UK solicitors have a degree in another area and 23% have transferred from other careers. The industry is prosperous and continuing to look for skills offered from a range of backgrounds and different countries.

For those aiming for law jobs without a Law Degree, the ‘Graduate Diploma in Law’ is the alternative way to qualify. Also known as the Common Professional Exam or a Law Conversion course, it allows graduates with a non-law degree to ‘convert’ their existing education with a one year course.

Once you have completed a law qualification of any sort including a law degree you will still need to complete a Legal Practice Course. The LPC is the final qualification to become a solicitor and is compulsory. It is designed to ensure trainee solicitors have the knowledge and skills they need. This course is offered all over the UK and takes one year full time. To be finally qualified as a solicitor you need to under take a two year ‘Training Contract’ which involves practice based training almost like an apprenticeship.

There is a range of rules you must follow if you are a qualified lawyer from within the EU and wish to practice law in the UK. Otherwise EU member states are free to do business and offer legal services amongst themselves.

Qualified Lawyers from outside the EU who wish to practice Law in the UK must first get hold of a ‘Certificate of Eligibility’ from the Law Society of England and Wales and then sit the ‘Qualified Lawyers Test’. The QLT is a test which permits foreign lawyers to practice in the UK. To be considered for the QLT you must have over 2 years legal practice experience of which at least one year must have been gained by practising the law of England and Wales, supervised by a solicitor who has been admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales.