In brief: Unqualified assessors move in on victims

Personal injury victims are being doorstepped by unqualified claims assessors in a wheeze designed to drum up extra business for solicitors, warned Michael Napier, outgoing president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. The doorstepping approach is the latest attempt by intermediaries and marketing groups to share in potential awards to accident victims. Napier told the Apil conference on 10 May that unqualified assessors were trying to draw in lawyers to cases where "quick fix" out of court settlements were deemed possible. He told the conference that he hoped the Apil executive committee would approve a voluntary code of practice which all members could support.