What Happens in a Personal Injury Claim? with William O’Brien | How to Think Like a Lawyer

In the fifth episode of How to Think Like a Lawyer, Alexander is joined by William O’Brien, Head of Personal Injury at Leap Legal Software, who has more than twenty years’ experience running personal injury claims as a solicitor and partner. Together they follow a claim from the moment someone is injured to the day compensation is agreed or awarded.

William explains how lawyers decide whether a claim has reasonable prospects of success, meaning a better than fifty per cent chance of winning, and how they spot a potential claim using health and safety regulations for workplace accidents and the common law duty of care and the Highway Code for road traffic accidents.

The conversation then turns to the whiplash reforms and the Official Injury Claim portal. William explains how removing the recovery of legal costs for low-value road traffic claims has squeezed solicitors’ margins, and why he believes this has had a dampening effect on access to justice.

Alexander and William then connect theory to practice, looking at how duty, breach, causation and damage play out in real cases. William explains why causation is often the hardest element to prove, and how difficulty getting GP and hospital appointments since lockdown has made it harder still. He also explains why the most contemporaneous evidence is always the strongest, from medical records and accident reports to witness statements, and the role of medical experts and medico-legal reports.

The interview looks at how claims differ across road traffic accidents, workplace accidents, catastrophic injury and clinical negligence, including the three-year limitation period and the letter of claim. William also explains how insurers and NHS Resolution investigate a claim, decide whether to admit or deny liability, and provide pre-action disclosure.

Next, the conversation turns to settlement and trial: why William treats every case as if it could go to trial, how prospects are reassessed at each stage, why disputes over value can push a case into court, and how Part 36 offers encourage settlement. He also explains how lawyers value an injury using the Judicial College Guidelines, previous case law and a schedule of loss.

William discusses what good client representation looks like, why informed consent is at the centre of everything, and the biggest misconception about personal injury damages in the UK compared with the United States.

Drawing on his move into legal technology, William explains how AI can help lawyers manage risk and spot inconsistencies. He argues that AI won’t replace lawyers, but it will replace lawyers who don’t use it, and that the solicitor will always remain responsible for their work.

Finally, William shares the skills employers look for in aspiring solicitors, his advice for anyone who has just been injured (preserve the evidence and be completely honest with your solicitor), and what he would tell himself when he started out as a paralegal.

Topics covered include: personal injury law, negligence, causation, evidence, medical experts, medico-legal reports, whiplash reforms, the Official Injury Claim portal, access to justice, road traffic accidents, employer’s liability, clinical negligence, limitation periods, insurers, NHS Resolution, settlement, trial, Part 36 offers, the Judicial College Guidelines, compensation, fundamental dishonesty, client care, informed consent, legal technology, AI in law and careers as a solicitor.

How to Think Like a Lawyer — Episode 05: What Happens in a Personal Injury Claim? with William O’Brien.