Personal injury lawyer speaks out to help families
The president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has spoken out about grieving families being forced to attend inquests without legal help because the majority cannot obtain legal aid.
Therefore, APIL is calling on the government to address the fact that only 21% of families who apply for funding help for inquests are successful as part of coroner reforms.
Fears and concerns have been raised as many bereaved families may not be aware that they have the right to legal representation when they attend an inquest, even though witnesses attending to explain the cause of death will have an insurance company’s paid legal team to support them.
Amanda Stevens, the President of APIL said that the Governments ‘charter for bereaved people’ is the current move to update the system – must make it clear that bereaved families can seek legal advice for an inquest.
Stevens stated: “Families are faced with a catch 22 situation.” There are many who are not aware that they have a right to legal representation when they attend the inquest, and then there are those are aware and do seek legal help, but are often turned down when they ask for assistance with funding.”
She continued: “The Government should be congratulated for the work it is doing to overhaul the coroners and inquests system, which has proved time and time again to be inefficient and out of date. What we need now is for funding issues to be addressed before the bill becomes law.”
After releasing the charter, Justice Minister Bridget Prentice commented: “We have listened carefully to bereaved families and I am pleased to be issuing a new charter that will put their needs at the centre of a reformed system.”
Updated on 17/09/2008