Why APIL is good for you
They feature heavily in the Accidents and Injuries section of this website but who or what is APIL? Read on, to find out why APIL is good for you if you have been injured as the result of an accident.
Fighting for the rights of injured people, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is a not-for-profit organisation.
It aims, among other things, to promote and maintain standards in personal injury legal services.
APIL encourages the government to improve the laws which help you if you become ill or if you are injured as the result of someone else’s negligence or breach of duty.
You can find out more about APIL’s work on their website. You can also read the various booklets they have produced to help injury victims.
Peter Brash and Marie Morrison of Grigor & Young are both members of, and accredited by, APIL. How does that benefit you?
How our APIL links benefit you
APIL members are committed to providing the best possible service to injury victims.
All APIL members sign up to a special Consumer Charter. We hope this will give you reassurance about the level of service you can expect from a firm whose personal injury solicitors are APIL members.
APIL’s Consumer Charter
APIL’s Consumer Charter is a list of promises aiming to reassure injured people that their cases will be dealt with in a sympathetic and professional manner.
- APIL members promise to put your best interests first
- APIL members provide clear, impartial, honest advice about your case
- APIL members will tell you if you will have to pay anything to pursue your claim and, if you do, how much
- If you do have to pay in order to proceed with your case, APIL members will charge you a fair price, with no hidden costs
- APIL members will explain your legal position in simple language
- APIL members who are unable to deal with your case, for whatever reason, will act only in your best interests in suggesting a suitable alternative solicitor
- APIL members will keep you fully updated about your case as it proceeds
- APIL members will consider other appropriate remedies, as well as financial outcomes
- APIL members will not cold call
- Any advertisements published by APIL members will be accurate and truthful
- For APIL members, your welfare is their primary concern
In line with APIL’s objectives, APIL members also adhere to a separate Code of Conduct.
APIL’s objectives
Members of APIL support APIL’s objectives.
APIL’s objectives are:
- The promotion of full and just compensation for all types of personal injury
- The promotion and development of expertise in the practice of personal injury law
- The promotion of wider compensation for personal injury in the legal system
- Campaigning for improvements in personal injury law
- The promotion of safety, including alerting the public to hazards, wherever they arise
- The provision and promotion of a communication network for members
APIL members’ Code of Conduct
All APIL members have duties under the Code of Conduct:
- Providing a professional service;
- Keeping themselves informed, educated and up to date with current law and procedure;
- Sharing information with other APIL members;
- Maximising the amount of compensation receivable in the hands of you, the client;
- Ensuring that you, the client, are fully aware of – and fully and professionally advised – regarding on all costs / expenses issues, including public funding (i.e. Legal Aid), where available.
- Ensuring that you, the client, have the opportunity to receive advice on the investment and/or use of damages (compensation).
The terms of the code
- APIL members will act in the best interests of the client;
- APIL members will provide the client with independent advice;
- APIL members shall at all times behave and act in a manner which will uphold the standing and good reputation of claimant personal injury lawyers and APIL;
- No APIL member shall pursue a frivolous claim issue or position; but no APIL member should refrain from taking or pursuing any claim issue or position which is believed to have merit;
- APIL members will proceed expeditiously (i.e. efficiently and as speedily as possible) with all personal injury claims;
- No APIL member shall make excessive or unnecessary monetary charges to the client;
- No APIL member shall personally or through an agent make representations of experience or specialist skills which they do not possess;
- No APIL member shall knowingly make any statement, whether in publicity material to a prospective client, an existing client, or otherwise which may give the client false expectations;
- No APIL member shall undertake false, deceptive or misleading advertising;
- APIL’s logo is a registered trade mark and shall not be used by any APIL member, either personally or through their firm, for advertising or marketing purposes. Accredited firms and individual accredited members are permitted to use the logo which correctly identifies their accreditation status. All members are permitted to identify their individual APIL membership without using the APIL logo.
- No APIL member shall personally, or through a representative, directly contact a potential client (except through permitted advertising), where there has been no request for such contact (‘cold calling’). “Permitted advertising” is defined as advertising which complies with the Code of Practice of the Advertising Standards Authority and with the Rules of the member’s relevant legal professional regulatory body.
- APIL members may only pay or receive a fee for the introduction of clients where permitted by the rules of the member’s relevant legal professional regulatory body.
- No APIL member shall knowingly accept a referral from a person, whether an APIL member or not, who obtained the representation by means contrary to this code or the rules of the member’s professional regulatory body.