FAQS

Nothing. We run all our cases on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis. You will not have to pay our fees, nor will you have to pay for any insurance policy or any other costs. In medical negligence and accident claims you will keep 100% of your compensation.

You need a solicitor with recognised expertise in the type of case you are discussing. For medical negligence claims there are two specialist panels, the Law Society Panel and the AvMA panel. For serious personal injury claims there is a separate Law Society panel. You should check whether the solicitor who will actually be handling your case is a member of one of the relevant panels. At Price Slater Gawne, your case will be handled personally by either Vicky Price, Mark Slater or Chris Gawne with assistance from a named paralegal for the preliminary steps. They are all experienced panel members, Mark and Chris being on the Law Society Clinical Negligence panel and Vicky on the Law Society Personal Injury panel. That means that once your case is up and running you will benefit from the years of experience that Vicky, Mark and Chris possess in handling medical negligence and personal injury claims.

Yes. Even if another solicitor has started your claim you can transfer your case to Price | Slater | Gawne. It is a simple process and happens all the time. If you contact us then we will do the rest.

Our service covers the whole of England and Wales. When we need to see you, or if you want to see us, we will visit you in your own home at a time that is convenient for you.

The reality is that even if you instruct a local solicitor, almost all your contact will be by telephone, post or email. What is more important is the level of expertise and the standard of service that you will experience. We are always available for our clients – you will have our direct dials and our mobile numbers if you need them – and we use email as our main source of communication when we need to write to you. We prefer this because it allows us to move cases along more quickly and to respond to you more immediately. Obviously, if you prefer us to write to you we will do so and sometimes, for example when we need you to sign documents, we have to use the post. Above all you will find that we are more friendly, open and accessible than other solicitors. And don’t forget that you will have one of our expert partners dealing with your case.

The amount of compensation depends upon the type of injury, its consequences and the financial loss which either has been caused or will be caused in the future as a result of the injury. In most cases the majority of the compensation is for financial losses and these vary significantly, even for very similar injuries, depending upon the personal circumstances of the claimant. For that reason it is impossible to give any sensible prediction of the amount of compensation without knowing more about your situation. You can read more about how compensation is calculated in the first answer above. Be wary of websites which claim to be able to tell you how much compensation you will actually be awarded – it is really not possible to do this unless in your particular case there are no financial losses and the website knows the full extent of your injury and your prognosis! Please give us a call and we would be pleased to discuss the compensation likely in your particular circumstances.

Again, this is very dependent on the nature of the case and the severity of the injury. In very straightforward cases where there is no doubt about whether the defendant is legally liable for the injury and there are no significant ongoing symptoms a case can take a few weeks or months. In more complex cases, particularly medical negligence cases where there are arguments about whether treatment was negligent it can take significantly longer. What we can say is that we will push your case forward so that a conclusion is reached as soon as reasonably possible and we will give you realistic estimates as to when a conclusion is likely. Even where it is not possible to reach the end of your case quickly because, for example, your prognosis for recovery is not clear, we will try to ensure that your financial worries are minimised by obtaining an advance payment of your damages from the defendant.

Making a complaint can be a useful way in which to bring your concerns to the attention of the doctor or hospital who provided the relevant medical treatment. You cannot, however, obtain compensation through the complaint and the complaint is usually dealt with by asking the doctor concerned for his or her views and putting together a response based on those views. Perhaps for that reason, sometimes patients feel that responses can be defensive. If you are thinking about making a complaint we would suggest that you contact us or request a callback using the form on the right – we can talk about what you want to achieve and the best way forward.