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Hurrah! This week's Times Lawyer of the Week is a personal injury solicitor.
He is head of the personal injury department for a law firm based in London and Leeds, and recently represented a nine year old boy who had been tragically and permanently injured as a toddler aged two and a half.
The point of the "hurrah" is that personal injury litigation should be recognised for the worthy work it undertakes, and that countless people who have had their lives altered, sometimes devastatingly so, as a result of an accident, have been helped to live better lives because of a compensation claim.
This particular case is tragic for reasons that do not need to be explored too deeply here, but it is at the same time inspirational for the manner in which the litigation has reportedly been carried out, and it is for this reason that the case warrants attention.
The claim was brought against the insurers of the boy's father, who was deemed responsible for the accident that caused the boy's injuries. They admitted liability at an early stage in the proceedings and an interim payment of £1.7 million was made to facilitate the purchase of a home suitable for the injured child's needs.
This interim payment completely adhered to the tenets of The Rehabilitation Code 2007 promoting the early payment of funds to an accident victim so that they may receive the swiftest intervention of medical treatment possible. This "early intervention" should enable the best and quickest possible medical, social and psychological recovery for the personal injury victim.
The Code aims to ensure that personal injury solicitors and compensators work together to address the immediate needs of the accident victim as a priority and that the process of achieving this is carried out as a collaborative endeavour rather than an adversarial one.
In the case of the injured boy, once the extent of his needs was clear and established for the future, a settlement was reached. The High Court judge approved a compensation package comprising a £2.5 million pound lump sum payment plus £220,000 annually; effectively ensuring his medical and care needs will be met for the duration of his life.
His personal injury solicitor (yes, the lawyer of the week) told newspapers that the total likely award of £8.1 million was believed to be the largest court approved award for a spinal injury.
As it was revealed that the element of the award for pain and suffering endured by the boy, as opposed to cost of care, was likely to only be around £275,000, the national co-ordinator of the spinal chord injuries group for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said, "This is a substantial award, but it is not a lottery win."
"If this boy lives to be 50, then that [£275,000] equates to £18 a day – for being brain and spinal chord injured, being doubly incontinent, having no sexual function, being unable to earn a living and requiring care for the rest of his life. That's what people have to remember."
So, when large sums awarded as compensation make splashy headlines, and public opinion does not always appear to see the bigger picture of the accident compensation industry, we once again suggest that the work of the personal injury solicitor is wholly admirable and in this particular case it appears that all parties concerned have worked together in the best interests of the injured child.
We would therefore like to send our congratulations to the personal injury solicitor who was hailed Lawyer of the Week.
