Dear Mr Cameron,

I am writing to you as my MP but also, more importantly, as my prime minister.

I voted in the Conservatives because I felt that Labour had not done what they promised. I now find myself furious and pretty much feeling helpless against a growing tide which, effectively, will see me legislated out of a job.

I am a personal injury solicitor and have been qualified for nearly 12 years. I worked extremely hard to get my degree, studying part time and working full time. It took me six years and I now find myself embarrassed to tell people what I do because of this growing misconception that we have a compensation culture in this country. We do not! This country will never become like the US. The laws are too strict and the compensation awarded too low for that to ever happen.

I have read with growing concern about the changes proposed within the Jackson reforms for personal injury law.

As I professional, I am not in this role to 'make a fast buck' as I read in a daily paper last Friday. I enjoy a decent salary but it is no better and quite a lot worse than a lot of graduates command.

I do what is in the best interests of my client. That is what I signed up to do all those years ago. Yes, there are people who will try to make fraudulent claims. There will always be people who are prepared to try their luck. I have come across them myself in the 20 years I have been working in personal injury although there are not as many as the media would suggest. I have read, and this time in the Law Society Gazette, that the number of fraudulent claims are about 1 in 5,000. I can assure you that if there is ANY evidence that the claim might be fraudulent, I end the contract and will not act for the client. I think you will find that pretty much all solicitors would say the same.

Can I also point out that solicitors do not make thousands of pounds per claim. We do take cases on based on their merits. The 'no win no fee' scheme means that about 20% to 25% of cases fail and no costs are paid. That said, the scheme does mean that anyone with a genuine claim does have access to justice which is what the Woolf reforms were all about. The cases that do succeed often take at least two to three years to settle during which time the solicitor has to fund all the disbursements. If the case is issued, the court fees alone can easily be over £1,000 on even the most straightforward of cases.

The average costs per case on a fairly conservative claim of say £5,000 to £10,000 are about £4,000 to £5,000. That sum would be inclusive of VAT. Hardly a fortune and, although they are referred to as profit costs, that is a misnomer because that so-called profit has to cover the overheads of running a business.

I understand that the proposals are to bring other areas of personal injury such as employer’s liability and public liability into the portal scheme. I feel that this will put a lot of smaller firms that specialise in personal injury out of business and this is being proposed in today’s economic climate too. Also, these types of cases are very rarely straightforward and can take a lot of work before it can be ascertained if the claim has reasonable prospects of success unlike an RTA claim where the target is immediately obvious and it is easy to find out of the offending vehicle is insured.

I work in a very small practice. There are six people working there in total, two of which are solicitors. The offices are comfortable but not plush and we do not drive big, expensive cars. The firm makes a living. It is a business, just like any other and why should it not make a profit?

If these reforms go ahead, firms will not be able to afford to employ solicitors to deal with claims. That is bound to affect the claimant’s prospects as their claim will, no doubt, be handled by someone inexperienced. How can that be considered access to justice? I have only ever done personal injury so I (and I am sure many thousands of personal injury solicitors) will find myself without a role. I also understand you are in talks with insurers but there is no mention of consulting solicitors. Surely we should have a say in these far-reaching reforms?

Also, are you aware just how much insurance companies push their clients to make personal injury claims? There has been a lot of talk about the increase in claims for motor accidents but insurers are quite insistent when asking if their clients have been injured at all.

There is also the issue of referral companies that spring up with no governing body to answer to. These companies pester people with telephone calls and texts asking if they have had an accident. They then sell on any claims for anywhere between £600 and £900 (which is payable up front, is unrecoverable and comes out of the solicitor’s profit costs). The increase in the number of claims is certainly not down to the actions of solicitors. We do not make calls or send texts asking if people have had accidents. We are not allowed to as we are too tightly governed. It seems to me that the new legislation has chosen the wrong whipping boy.

I suspect my letter will have no effect whatsoever but can I please ask that serious consideration is given before making the proposed changes rather than the government jumping on the band wagon of this misconception of the compensation culture. At least, speak to solicitors, as most colleagues that I speak to have very similar concerns.

Yours sincerely

Ms Fiona Marsden, solicitor, Flanagans Solicitors, Eynsham