24 REVIEWS
www.lawgazette.co.uk Balancing act
Personal Injury Practice: the guide to litigation in the county court and the High Court (sixth edition) Andrew Buchan, Jenny Kennedy, Eliot Woolf £85, Bloomsbury Professional ««««¶
T T
he publication of the latest edition, in February 2014, is very timely. The previous edition was published in
2008 and, since then, a myriad of changes to personal injury law have taken place. Spanning over 600 pages, the new book covers the low-value protocols, e-disclosure, relief from sanctions and Mitchell v NGN Limited, funding and costs, amendments to employers’ liability legislation and the Jackson reforms. This book is divided into four main
parts: pre-issue preparation, issue of proceedings to trial, ‘special prob- lems’ and appendices. Each main section is subdivided into a number of chapters, which offer sage practical
advice to PI lawyers from the claimants’ perspective. The book would, however, also be of much use to defendant practitioners and insurers. The first half
follows the
chronology of a personal injury claim, from the first interview right through to guidance on preparation for trial and the trial itself. The authors – two barristers and a solicitor – have found a good balance between law, the CPR and practical guidance. The appendices consist mainly
of specimen letters which are of more use to those new to this field of law. The ‘special problems’ section briefly outlines issues relating to limitation periods, fatal accident claims and claimants under a legal disability. It also touches on the peculiarities connected with disease cases, stress at work claims, liability for defective products and prem-
ises, RTA claims and the 2012 CICA scheme. In the preface, the authors say
‘this book should be useful for the experienced practitioner and the novice alike’. It is certainly a godsend for paralegals, trainee solicitors and those who are newly qualified. This new edition would sit on their desks and be covered with highlighter pen marks and notes. Indeed, as a slightly neglected articled clerk some two decades ago, I remember purchasing the second edition. The pages soon became dog-eared with overuse. The book would also be of assis-
tance to experienced practitioners, but often as a starting point on an issue before moving on to the major loose-leaf publications. This is not a criticism, but merely reflects the real- ity of today’s PI litigation. Authors can no longer undertake a compre- hensive review of this vast area of law and practice in only 600 pages.
Tony Taylor is a locum personal injury and clinical negligence solicitor
The Law of Contract Damages Adam Kramer £95, Hart Publishing
23 June 2014
JUST OUT
The Family Court without a Lawyer: a handbook for litigants in person Lucy Reed £30, Bath Publishing
Rescue mission Know IT all
Nobody Comes: the true story of the rescue of a child from a Romanian orphanage Anthony Cleary £8.99 (Kindle edition), Crux Publishing «««««
ony Cleary will be known to some Gazette readers as an editor of Jordan’s Family Court Prac- tice and a serving
circuit judge. In 1990, then a county court registrar, he and his family were horrified by televised scenes from the orphanages in post-Ceaus- escu Romania. The regime had out- lawed abortion and contraception, and the ‘orphanages’ were no more than holding facilities for infants whose parents could not or would not care for them. Nobody Comes is Tony’s personal account of a quest to rescue and adopt at least one child from those appalling conditions. Having ensured that he had
undergone appropriate assessments in the UK, he travelled to Bucharest where he encountered bureaucratic
chaos, incompe- tence and lack of interest sufficient to dissuade many lesser mortals. As the story unfolds, the reader is taken through the highs and lows of a conflict between humanity and
indifference. Tony pulls no punches in describing the squalid conditions in which the children were kept and the inhuman treatment meted out to them, but his story is enlightened by the willing support that he received from family, friends and volunteers. With their help, his determination to confront, bypass and overcome numerous obstacles placed in his path by both British and Romanian authorities is inspirational. Nobody Comes is a tale well told, and one that needs to be told.
Andrew Jones is a district judge, Warwick and Coventry county courts
Lexcel Information Management Toolkit (second edition) The Law Society £49.95, Law Society Publishing ««««¶
I
am not very IT-liter- ate, having qualified as a legal executive when we still used pen and paper, and most of us had secretaries.
Social media, designing and maintaining websites, cloud computing – all alien concepts to me. I do not even have broadband access at home and a mobile phone is for making calls when I am away from a landline. So the pros- pect of ensuring the firm was information management- compli- ant was daunt- ing. How- ever, this
book was a lifesaver. In these days of scam
emails, to which my firm has been subject, I was particu- larly interested to read about this aspect of information management. It explains things clearly and concisely, so that even a novice such as I can grasp the concept. There is also a CD-ROM which con- tains precedent policies and documents which were easy to adopt for our firm. I recommend this book to
any non-IT-literate practi- tioners tasked with the job of ensuring their firm’s informa- tion management procedures are up to date, whether or not there is an intention to obtain Lexcel accreditation. It would be of particular benefit to smaller firms, who perhaps do not have the benefit of an IT department.
Michelle Edwards is risk and compliance manager at MTA Solicitors, Bromley
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