Insurance lawyers have urged ministers not to water down civil litigation reform in the face of vocal opposition.

The government has faced repeated criticism over the summer from claimant representatives over changes proposed in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

The Forum of Insurance Lawyers said the needs of the general public have been drowned out by opposition groups, and has submitted a response to the Public Bill Committee calling for the reforms to be implemented in full.

In its evidence, FOIL cited research by Professor Paul Fenn, which it said showed that 61% of claimants will be better off because of plans to increase potential damages by 10%.

The group argues that excessive costs are creating a ‘stifling’ effect on access to justice for defendants and result in the ‘effective blackmail’ of defendants in high-value cases.

FOIL claims that no-win, no-fee arrangements have led to claimants having no interest in the level of costs being incurred, leaving them to spiral out of control.

Tim Oliver, president of FOIL, said: ‘It is interesting to note that in 1996, when Lord Woolf was gathering evidence for his reforms, claimant law firms asserted that conditional fee agreements with non-recoverable success fees and after the event premiums worked well, with absolutely no indication the regime prevented them from taking on cases.

‘FOIL believes the proposed changes will create a more balanced civil justice system in which individuals, companies and organisations will be able to enforce their rights and obtain full redress from the civil justice process, but at significantly reduced cost.’