Smart lawyers

I was talking to health and safety lawyer Stuart Armstrong of McGrigors yesterday about the way personal injury lawyers have become much more clued up in the way they pursue work-related claims. Where there has been an accident at work and the HSE is investigating for a possible criminal prosecution, the victim's PI lawyers will often wait for the HSE's case to be decided before taking their claim to court.

Armstrong says one neat trick on the part of the PI lawyers is to request diclosure of safety documentation such as risk assessments from the employer, and if they don't get it, to mention it to the HSE investigators with the implication that the company may have something it wants to hide in that area.