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APIL calls for personal injury solicitors' guideline hourly rates to jump by

18.25
Personal injury solicitors' frms should have their hourly rate increased by 18.25%,
the Association of Personal njury !a"yers #AP!$ has said.
n its res%onse to the &ivil 'ustice &ouncil's #&'&$ &all for (vidence on the subject of
)uideline *ourly +ates, AP! said that ,uideline hourly rates for %ersonal injury
solicitors in (n,land and -ales have lar,ely remained static since 'anuary 1
st
2../,
"hen they rose by 1.0% follo"in, recommendations by the Advisory &ommittee on
&ivil &osts.
1his 1.0% increase "as intended to be an interim measure, and on A%ril 1
st
2.1.,
the Advisory &ommittee's recommendation to acce%t these ,uideline rates "as
acce%ted by the 2aster of the +olls.
AP! %ointed out that since the be,innin, of 2../, the &onsumer Price nde3 has
under,one a 14.0% increase, "hile the +etail Price nde3 has ,ro"n by 1/.8%.
1herefore, it said that %ersonal injury solicitors' ,uideline %ractice rates should
increase by the avera,e of the t"o indices' ,ro"th to reach 18.25%.
!LL" and APIL #arnings of dangers of underestimating guideline personal
injury solicitors' rates
AP! said that as the current ,uideline rates do not ta5e real6"orld in7ation into
account, failin, to increase them could cause di8culties for members of the %ublic
"hen they "ish to ma5e a %ersonal injury claim. Peo%le "ould increasin,ly fnd it
hard to fnd inde%endent %ersonal injury solicitors to re%resent them and handle
their case, "ith survivin, %ractices li5ely to e3ist only "ithin lar,e urban areas.
Peo%le unable to travel or in rural areas may therefore be unable to receive face6to6
face advice "ith solicitors.
9onetheless, the 'ac5son +eforms recently led to a reduction in the number of
%ersonal injury claims that "ere subjected to ,uideline hourly rates. Professor Paul
:enn e3amined almost 4;,... %ersonal injury claims, fndin, that just 11.45% of
accident at "or5 claims and other em%loyers' liability claims, 5.21% of %ublic
liability claims and <.4;% of road tra8c accident claims fell outside of f3ed cost
re,imes due to havin, a value ,reater than =25,....
1he &ity of !ondon !a" >ociety #&&!>$ also hi,hli,hted 7a"s in the &'&'s method of
calculatin, ,uideline rates, notin, that it did not start o? "ith the mar5et rate "hen
determinin, "hat rates are reasonable. As a result, the &&!> said the &'& "as @ill
6eAui%%ed@ to decide "hat solicitors' frms should ma5e as a %roft, nor is doin, so
in a com%etitive mar5et @a%%ro%riate@, and %redicted that the &'&'s a%%roach "ill
reduce cost recoveries and see %ersonal injury com%ensation claimants and other
liti,ants decidin, to recover their costs in countries other than (n,land and -ales.
1he &'&'s &osts &ommittee is %lannin, to com%lete its re%ort before <1
st
2arch
2.1;. 1he 2aster of the +olls "ill then set 2.1;'s rates. :urther revie"s "ill ta5e
%lace as reAuired. Personal injury solicitors and other frms en,a,ed in liti,ation
"ere encoura,ed to ta5e %art in the consultation and revie" so that the fnal
recommendations can be as informed as %ossible.
&arol >mith researches %ersonal injury and other com%ensation claims on behalf of
a team of cash advance solicitors no "in no fee solicitors. >he li5es the s%rin,time,
lon, "al5s on the beach, and feedin, the sAuirrels in the %ar5, and one day "ould
li5e to "rite a best6sellin, novel. >he has already "ritten the frst fe" %a,es several
times.

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