From April 2013 the personal injury world as we know it - changes forever

After months of jousting and posturing, during which time LegalSpy has kept his counsel, the fat lady has finally sung on the subject of the personal injury reforms.

From April this year the following rules come in:

Claimants must pay for their own insurance to protect them in any legal proceedings. Previously the insurance was recovered as part of the claim.

Claimant lawyers to be paid less than 40% of what they would have achieved in the current regime

Insurers no longer have to pay the claimants success fee which the lawyer would charge to reflect the risk taken in pursuing a No win No fee case. Now the claimant has to pay this out of compensation and in personal injury terms this will equate to 25% of damages.

Claims arising from road accidents, accidents on the street, public place or those occurring at work under £25k in value all now fall to be dealt with via a computerised system known as the "portal". The intention is to dumb down the process and buy claims off as quickly as possible. 

These measures may not sound too extreme ... but they are.

The whole industry has been turned on its head and the people who will suffer the most will be the injured accident victims. Why...? Because at the lower end of the spectrum the legal process will be geared towards speed and efficiency not client care or service. 

Sad times and unfortunately ... this is just the start.