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Ascot Lawyers - Legal News

£150,000 compensation following car accident Solicitors' 'Free legal Advice' worth £338M Midwife shortage putting babies at risk Damages for brain injury - Ascot Lawyers increase award to 9 times the offer £85,000 settlment for back and neck injuries

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£150,000 compensation obtained following car accident causing shoulder injury

Anne Dickinson, Solicitor in our personal injury department recently settled a claim for just over £150,000 following a car accident in which our client suffered a shoulder injury.

We appointed a rehabilitation company at an early stage to investigate the cause of symptoms, restricted movement and provide treatment. The Claimant's left shoulder symptoms continued despite referral for physiotherapy treatment and cortisone injections. The Claimant subsequently required an arthroscopy and shoulder replacement surgery.

The Claimant who was a Demolition Foreman was unfortunately unable to continue this type of physical work due to his accident injuries.

Throughout the duration of the claim we obtained approximately £34,000 in interim payments to assist our client with the financial difficulties caused by the accident.

Following presentation of our evidence we were able to obtain an award of just over £150,000 to compensate our client.

Ascot Lawyers will provide up to 1 hour initial free advice in relation to any of our specialist areas. Please call us on 01344 783890.

Visit our Accident & Injury section

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Solicitors' Free legal Advice Worth £338M

Private practice solicitors provided £338 million worth of work on a no charge basis over the past year - around 2% of the profession's gross fee income.

A survey of 1001 solicitors by the Law Society, timed to coincide with the sixth National Week to promote providing free legal advice, which commenced on the 12th November, found that 51% had conducted this type of work in the previous 12 months, compared with 45% in a similar survey in 2002. Two-thirds had provided free legal advice at some point in the past.

Ascot Lawyers will provide up to 1 hour initial free advice in relation to any of our specialist areas. Please call us on 01344 783890

Those providing free legal advice last year spent an average of 43 hours on it (compared with 62 hours in 2002), which equated to around £8200 each based on charge-out rates. Extrapolated across private practice, this meant solicitors provided £338 million worth of work, a figure that excludes the contributions of in-house solicitors, barristers, legal executives and others.

Some 40% of those who worked for no fee over the past year said the main reason they did so was to help people - 15% highlighted the 'feel good' factor.

Ascot Lawyers will provide up to 1 hour initial free advice in relation to any of our specialist areas. Please call us on 01344 783890.

To read more about how you can fund your legal costs visit our funding your legal costs page.

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Shortage of midwives is putting mothers and babies at risk

The Royal College of Midwives has issued a warning of cuts to services, stress on staff, fewer home visits, less chance of a homebirth for those who want it, and a shrinking workforce. This is in tandem with the number of births on the increase in the UK.

The research conducted by the college demonstrated that the informal target of 32 births per full-time midwife per year was not been met by more than 50% of the NHS trusts across the UK.

Women who want to have a baby at home may be denied this option because of the mid wife shortage or perhaps even more disappointingly are let down at the last minute if there is no midwife available.

Anne Dickinson, Clinical Negligence Solicitor, comments that this shortage may lead to a lowering of the standard of care provided to mothers during pregnancy and birth Examples of possible complications that may arise are incontinence following negligent treatment received during the birth of first child, perforation of bowel during hysteroscopy. A failure to adequately monitor, identify and/or control bleeding, which can lead to long- term complications.

Ascot Lawyers are specialists in medical negligence. Please contact us on 01344 783890. If you have suffered injury as a result of negligent advice or treatment we can help you obtain the compensation to which you are entitled.

Visit our Medical Negligence section

Damages agreed for Brain Injury

Harvey Sandercock, head of the Personal Injury Team at Ascot lawyers has recently settled a claim for a client who was involved in a serious head on collision. Our client suffered a head injury, which caused minor microscopic brain damage resulting in continuing headaches and dizziness.

At an early stage, the other drivers motor insurers made an offer to settle our client's claim for just £8000.

We obtained expert opinion from Dr Gross, a leading neurosurgeon, Professor Trimble, a professor in behavioural neurology and Dr Nathanial James consultant in clinical Neuropsychology.

We were also able to arrange for our client to be referred privately to a specialist in headache management, professor Ralph Gregory, to treat the ongoing symptoms.

Following presentation of our evidence to the other driver's motor insurers, we were able to secure an award for our client of £72,900 - more than 9 times the original offer made by the insurers.

Ascot Lawyers have specialist expertise in relation to head injury cases. Please telephone us on 01344 783890.

Visit our Accident & Injury section
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£85,000 claim settled for neck and back injuries

Peter Williams, head of the Civil Litigation Team at Ascot lawyers has recently settled a claim for £85,000.00 in relation to a road traffic accident causing neck and back injuries sustained by the client leading to a reduction in the client's ability to work.

The client, a UK national resident in Australia sought assistance with his claim six months prior to being barred under the statute of limitations. His efforts to resolve the matter directly with the third party insurers over the previous two and a half years had proved fruitless with the insurers refusing to accept that his claim had any substance. The client underwent chiropractic and osteopathic treatment in an effort to reduce the severity of his daily symptoms, but was left unable to work normal hours for two years. His career involved extensive air travel, which aggravated his symptoms and reduced his capacity to pursue his chosen career.

Due to the nature of his career and the fact that the client had worked around the world, his earnings and tax records were complicated through the various jurisdictions. Matters were complicated further by the fact that he had only recently commenced working for his employer at the time of the accident. As a result of his reduced capacity to work the client moved to a different company after two years in order to work within his physical limitations. Due to his position of authority and seniority within his employment and the sensitivity of the information he had access to, the client was subject to a deed of release which provided for extremely limited information in respect of his earnings and his working capacity.

Medical evidence was obtained from Dr R L Thompson a specialist surgeon in Australia. Ascot Lawyers provided guidance to Dr Thompson on how to complete his report to meet the requirements of the English judicial system.

To resolve the claim it was necessary to review the extent of the available information and address the difficulties in obtaining evidence through no fault of the client. It was necessary to balance the client's expectations against the value of the claim based upon the evidence to hand.

Ascot Lawyers have specialist expertise in high value and complicated personal injury claims. Please telephone us on 01344 783890.

Visit our Accident & Injury section Visit our Dispute Resolution and Civil Litigation section
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