A new law firm has entered the personal injury market promising neither to pay nor charge referral fees.

Acorn Law, backed financially by national firm MTA Solicitors, says it is the first to be set up since the government announced plans to ban referral fees in personal injury cases.

Chief executive David Green said the current practice of PI firms paying up to £800 to a claims management company for an accident victim’s details is harming the profession and creating a ‘referral fee merry-go-round’.

He said: ‘The ban on referral fees will reinvigorate the personal injury market, allowing law firms to focus on the quality of service they provide to clients rather than who can pay the most for a case. The ban will hopefully drive out the worst excesses and allow lawyers to do what they do best: act in the best interests of their clients.’

Acorn Law will market itself on the quality of its work and is looking to recruit an advisory panel of former personal injury claimants to provide an insight into the claims process. The panel will meet twice a year and will set about drafting a client charter at its first session.

The firm, based in Bromley, Kent, was set up in September - just days after the referral fee ban announcement - and currently has eight solicitors.

As well as PI, it will also provide services in employment law, wills and probate, driving law, conveyancing, debt recovery and general litigation.