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illness or injury - nationwide
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The Times recently published a list of the 100 most powerful lawyers
in the UK - and only one is listed as a "personal
injury lawyer", and not a single one is counted as a "no
win, no fee solicitor". For a company that works in this field of the law, that's
a bit of a surprise on first reading.
The one who is listed, Martyn Day, probably has a good reason to be there - he's been incredibly important in the field of international asbestos compensation claims and other health issues - but the only one? Really? Of course, some of the others listed head up firms with departments that deal with personal injury law, and probably make use of the conditional fee arrangements available in the UK, but it's still a surprise.
Clearly, from reading the comments to the article, we're not the only ones to be surprised - although the reasons for surprise are wide and varied. Some of the reasons, in fact, are misguided; one correspondent bemoans the fact that there are no engineers or scientists on the list, for example, missing the point that it's a list of lawyers. Oops.
A bigger theme is the number of lawyers listed being white males, and whether this shows that the list is discriminatory, or whether the profession is. Even those people who take the list on its own terms argue with the people listed, suggesting other names who could be on the list, or other areas that are neglected, such as law commissioners.
But it's worth looking at the definition of the list - the author states outright that there are many excellent lawyers who did not make it on to the list, as "it is not a list of excellence" but of those who carry the most influence - which is a slightly different issue. As one of the more astute commenters notes, the list is influenced by those who are famous enough in the field, often through combining their careers with others such as politics or writing, to impinge on general consciousness.
And in the case of no win, no fee lawyers like ours, it's often true that working directly for someone who has suffered in a work accident, a car crash or a case of medical negligence is unlikely to get that famous. In many cases, they're unlikely to want to - the purpose of their work is to secure the compensation that their clients deserve, not the recognition that would stroke their egos.
Frankly, that means I'm right behind the commenter who noted that the list has "an insufficient concentration on the truly excellent solicitors who day in day out assist their clients, and the legal system, with life-changing and precedent-setting decisions." Not on the basis that the list is wrong - on the basis that a list that doesn't celebrate the good work that I see being done by our team of personal injury lawyers is a list that has failed to celebrate something deeply important in UK law.
