Accidents Direct aims to be top claims handler by doubling panel

Claims management company Accidents Direct has announced plans to double its panel of law firms from 80 to 160 in the next six months.

Speaking to Solicitors Journal this morning, managing director Chris Georgiou said this would enable it to become the biggest CMC in the UK.

He said the way the company worked was compatible with the ban on referral fees and it had taken legal advice on the issue.

Law firms buy shares in Accidents Direct, for £2,000 each. The more they buy the more the company spends on marketing and advertising their services.

'We're currently spending around £4 million a year on advertising,' Georgiou said. 'If we double our panel, that will double.'

He said the CMC's panel was growing at the rate of more than ten firms a month and this time last year, it had only around 40 member firms.

The panel firms generally range in size from three to four partners to 30 to 40 partners, but recently Georgiou said they had been joined by several bigger firms.

'We're a true marketing company,' he said. 'We don't use external agencies. Everything we do is in-house.'

Georgiou said he set up the company, which has a call centre in north London, with his brother ten years ago. The company introduced its current shareholder model in August 2011.

'We're way ahead of the game,' he said. 'There will still be a personal injury market after April, but only the strongest will survive.'

Georgiou said that 'no win, no fee' would continue after the LASPO Act, and it would be up to law firms to decide whether to take a slice of damages or absorb the cost in fees.

He said that in a situation where the government was taking money out of the personal injury market, firms' ability to market themselves effectively was crucial.

Georgiou added that he was not convinced that the government's plan to raise the small claims limit for whiplash cases from £1,000 to £5,000 would go through, as it had been tried by governments before.

Earlier this week InjuryLawyers4U, a non-profit making claims management company run by Manchester firm Amelans, revealed that over 250 personal injury firms had applied to join its existing panel of 47. The company decided to open the panel to new members last month.