APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law

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1 APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law

2 At APIL, we recognise that many of you and your colleagues have been aspiring to gain recognition of your expertise in carrying out a personal injury caseload. The APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law will give you this, providing you with the necessary skills to handle small to medium-sized personal injury cases from instruction through to conclusion, showing competency in: funding, costs and risk assessment procedure damages liability (RTA, employers, occupiers' and public) core skills clinical negligence The APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law is made up of four core modules, entitled: Funding, costs and CFAs Maximising damages Maximising profitability and success for PI lawyers Procedure for PI lawyers In order to complete the certificate, delegates will then choose one of the following specialist modules: Accidents at work essentials Clinical negligence - the fundamentals Liability in road traffic accidents Trips, slips and other mishaps - occupiers' liability and public liability law Delegates not wishing to take the certificate are invited to attend any of these modules to gain a thorough grounding in that particular area of the law and to obtain their SRA and APIL CPD hours. Each one-day course offers 5.5 CPD hours and courses are run nationwide. Who should attend? The APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law is particularly appropriate for fee earners who are either new to personal injury work or have less than five years' experience in handling a PI caseload, for example trainee/newly qualified solicitors, paralegals, legal executives or junior barristers. Why choose the APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law? Personal injury departments are increasingly recognising this qualification as a standard of competency in all areas of personal injury litigation. A printed certificate is awarded by APIL upon successful completion of all five modules. Levels APIL: litigator/senior litigator SRA levels: introductory/intermediate (ref: XR/APIL) Accreditation Each course is CPD accredited by: Association of Personal Injury Lawyers The Bar Standards Board Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority)

3 Workshops It is acknowledged that workshops are a good way of learning. Delegates may therefore be split up into groups to challenge what has been learnt. Assessment At the end of each module, a multiple-choice test will be circulated to each applicant for completion. Each test will be marked by an independent assessor and the applicant will be notified of the results in writing. Failure to achieve the required standard on the day will result in the applicant having to re-sit the multiple-choice test, free of charge, at an APIL course of their choice. Upon further failure, the applicant must pay to attend the module again. This is not applicable to those delegates not taking the APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law. Duration, frequency and location It is anticipated that most applicants will complete the certificate over a two year period, although the courses have been scheduled such that the certificate can be completed within one year if required. To achieve this, applicants may be required to attend courses away from their local regional centre. Each one-day course runs in the following locations: Bristol Liverpool London Manchester York More courses may be scheduled, subject to demand, and applicants may attend the modules in any order they wish. Price Each module is priced at VAT for corporate accredited firms, VAT for APIL members and VAT for non-members. Delegates can either choose to pay for the certificate in one single payment, or five instalments. The APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law and accreditation Why should I become a member of APIL's accreditation scheme? Accreditation provides a quality mark of excellence to members of the public seeking representation and a suitably qualified lawyer to handle their case. APIL's accreditation scheme continues to grow, with approximately one-third of the APIL membership now being accredited. APIL actively promotes its accredited members through its public information campaign on the website, in Citizen Advice Bureaux and libraries. Around 5000 searches are performed each month via the APIL website.

4 Core modules Delegates must successfully complete the following four core modules as part of the APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law: Funding, costs and CFAs A dry subject made interesting and relevant Stephen Ireland, The Paul Rooney Partnership This course is designed to provide you with everything you need to know about this fundamental area of litigation. The day will cover all the essentials on funding, costs and CFAs, including current issues, compliance with the regulations and rules and practical problems. This course will explore: what are the current funding options? CFAs, Damages Based Agreements (contingency fees), legal aid and other funding options selecting the right option for your client (and you) working with fixed and predictable costs maximising costs recovery and how to defeat the defendants arguments compliance with the latest regulations, costs rules and practice directions how to cope with the future up to date case law Speaker: Gary Barker Maximising damages Excellent speaker - made a very difficult topic understandable Sarah Moore, Express Solicitors This practical course explains the law of damages and then provides hands-on guidance in how to apply the law to the facts to create a comprehensive assessment of the damages the claimant deserves. Ask yourself: do you claim interest on special damages pre-proceedings, and if so how is it calculated? When is a loss of housekeeping services justified? Is care and attendance only claimable in serious cases? What is the chance of your client playing football for Manchester United before his accident, and how is that lost opportunity valued? Topics will include: PSLA-ensuring the right recovery loss of employability loss of chance/prospects provisional damages structured settlements interest financial losses, including pensions loss of congenial employment loss of leisure multipliers care and attendance/housekeeping Speaker: Simon Allen

5 Core modules continued... Maximising profitability and success for PI lawyers As thorough and as enjoyable as always Olivia Robinson, Vincents Solicitors Winning cases is no fun if you are not making a profit. This intensive course intends to directly enhance the delegate s contribution to the profitability of the firm. Delegates will cover key areas of personal injury claims investigation and the business of law. This course will cover: economic collation and marshalling of evidence case planning and the formulation of case theory the nature and extent of enquiries available to case scenarios the tactical use of the protocol and pre-action disclosure instructing experts and obtaining the best from them useful web resources to aid investigation of cases from the desk Speaker: John McQuater Procedure for personal injury lawyers This course has been extremely informative and valuable. A great introduction to procedure in PI cases! Katy Beaton, TLW Solicitors This course will concentrate on the procedure points of particular importance to personal injury lawyers, including advice on procedural tactics. This course will consider how to: get the best out of the protocol understand and know how to use CPR understand when and when not to use Part 36 obtain permission for and deal with expert evidence prepare for trial including bundles of documents be up to date on all important cases dealing with procedure be aware of practical and tactical decisions Speaker: John McQuater

6 Specialist modules Delegates must successfully complete one of the following specialist modules in order to complete the APIL Certificate in Personal Injury Law: Accidents at work essentials Clear, concise and very informative Nicola Dixon, Sweeney Miller Solicitors Accidents at work essentials will give you all of the basic essential knowledge needed to maximise your success in employers liability cases Every key area is covered in this fully updated course. As well as the essential low down on the Work at Height Regulations 2005, this course will: underline the principles of employers liability law consider negligence in employers liability cases look in depth at vicarious liability deal with reversal of the burden of proof help you to understand the application of purposive interpretation cover direct effect of EU Directives on Emanations of the State review the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations provide an understanding of how health & safety risk assessment should work and where employers regularly fail cover the key elements of the updated Six Pack Regulations the advantages of using the regulations to establish liability in your cases Speaker: Cenric Clement-Evans Clinical negligence - the fundamentals The course surpassed my expectations. Very well presented by two speakers who really are very enthusiastic about what they teach Mandyp Sehgal, Sehgal & Co Solicitors Delivered by popular speakers John McQuater and Muiris Lyons, this course aims to introduce clinical negligence and help you to understand the basics, helping you to go on and win cases! A number of important areas are covered including: why is clinical negligence different to PI litigation? the legal context of clinical negligence claims - including duty of care and factual causation instructions - initial meeting and screening, funding and statement taking investigation under the Protocol issuing proceedings - stocktake, identifying defendant(s) and court papers expert evidence - such as oral evidence and joint statements state provision - the impact on damages and PI trusts Further topics include service, limitation, pre-trial checklists, Part 36 and ADR, allocation and much more. Speakers: Muiris Lyons and John McQuater

7 Specialist modules continued... Liability in road traffic accidents Brilliant, easy to follow, interesting and relevant Danielle Watts, Harvey Ingram Bringing you up to date on the basics for RTA litigation, Michael Pace will cover a number of topics starting from just the basics up to the difficult areas of road traffic accidents. This course is extremely beneficial and aims to help you get the very best for your RTA clients, by covering important topics such as: back to basics RTA defences liability and contributory negligence insurance and MIB pitfalls contributory negligence and protection liability for the vehicle difficult areas Speaker: Michael Pace Trips, slips and other mishaps - occupiers liability and public liability law As always, more learnt in one day than a week s reading. Excellent speaker with thorough knowledge. Mike Massen, Gartons Solicitors Sometimes there is simply no liability in what seems to be a winning case! Sometimes there is clear liability in what seems to be a losing case! This course has been designed to help you to find the right piece of law to maximise the potential recovery of compensation for your client. In addition to the common law, there are a host of regulations and statutes that relate to this area impacting in different ways with very different, often surprising, standards of care. Topics will include: occupiers liability to lawful visitors occupiers liability to trespassers the liability of landlords under statute and negligence liability for injury from fires maintenance duties and rights of way occupiers liability and contractors occupiers liability in retail premises Highway Authority liability for slips and trips vicarious liability of occupiers Speaker: John McQuater

8 Our speakers Simon Allen Simon is managing partner of Russell Jones & Walker in Sheffield. He is a member of APIL and also a member of the Law Society Committee. Simon formed and heads the occupational disease group within RJW, specialising in asbestos claims. He is also joint head of the PI department in RJW and regularly writes for the Law Society Gazette. Simon is also co-author of the APIL Guide to Damages and on the editorial board of Kemp and Kemp. Gary Barker Gary qualified as a solicitor in He spent 20 years with two high street practices, specialising in civil litigation and personal injury work. From 2001 to 2004 he was head of practice development at the Law Society. Gary is now a practising solicitor again, which he combines with being a costs consultant, and a freelance trainer. Gary is an assistant lecturer at the Open University and an occasional contributor to legal discussions on national radio. John McQuater John is a partner and head of litigation at Atherton Godfrey. He is a fellow of APIL and a member of the Law Society personal injury and clinical negligence panels. He was elected on the APIL executive committee in 2005 and was the APIL president in He is a member of the editorial board of JPIL and an author of the APIL series guides, published by Jordans. Cenric Clement-Evans APIL fellow Cenric Clement-Evans is a solicitor at NewLaw, Cardiff, having joined NewLaw in January He has been a member of the APIL EC since 2008 and was formerly co-ordinator of APIL Wales and of the APIL occupational health special interest group. Cenric is a regular APIL lecturer and has lectured with Nigel Tomkins for many years in APIL s accidents at work series. Cenric has specialised in accidents at work and industrial disease claims for over 20 years. Muiris Lyons Muiris is the head of clinical negligence in the London office of Stewarts Law where he specialises in catastrophic injury claims and medical law. Muiris is a past president of APIL and is also an APIL fellow. He is the general editor of the Journal of Personal Injury Law (JPIL) and a contributing editor to Kemp & Kemp, as well as contributing to a number of other journals and textbooks including Jones on Medical Negligence. Michael Pace Michael is a partner at Andrew & Co in Lincoln and heads the personal injury and motor law team. He has experience of both claimant and defendant personal injury work and defendant criminal motor law cases. He is currently the vice president of the Lincolnshire Law Society. He is accredited as a fellow of APIL. He is a regular speaker at various motoring groups and other interested societies as well as being an APIL accredited trainer and regular presenter of the RTA liability courses and other subjects. Registration To enrol on the APIL Certificate, or to book an individual course, please complete the enclosed registration form and return to: APIL 3 Alder Court Rennie Hogg Road Nottingham NG2 1RX DX: Nottingham 42 Tel: For full terms and conditions, please visit APIL s website: