On 1 September 2017, I joined Jackson Boyd as a trainee solicitor. At Jackson Boyd, trainees rotate every 6 months around our different departments. Our departments include:
- Dispute Resolution
- Personal Injury Road Traffic team
- Personal Injury – Employers Liability (EL), Public Liability (PL) and Clinical Negligence.
- Employment.
I was involved in the EL/PL and Clinical Negligence team for six months, the Dispute Resolution team for six months and finally one year in the Road Traffic team. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be offered a permanent position at Jackson Boyd in the Road Traffic team. I started life as an NQ solicitor on 2nd October 2019 and have not looked back.
The Road Traffic Team
During my traineeship and during my initial months as an NQ solicitor, a large proportion of my case load involves simple procedure road traffic accidents. I assist clients in recovering their losses following an accident such as repairs, policy excess, hire and loss of earnings.
Our Experience
At Jackson Boyd, we specialise in road traffic law and have the necessary expertise to assist you through the journey of your claim, from beginning to end. Should you instruct Jackson Boyd, we will be with you throughout the lifetime of the case and will assist you with investigating, intimating and resolving your claim.
Investigating the accident circumstances and obtaining all relevant information at the very start of a claim is imperative. It is therefore advisable to seek legal advice while the facts are clear in your mind. We require information such as:
- Where the accident occurred,
- The factual circumstances of the accident,
- Is there independent evidence to support your claim,
- Is there any dispute over the losses
We will then intimate your claim to the insurer of the responsible party. We will correspond with all parties associated with your claim including your own Insurers, the Third Party Insurers and all witnesses. We will ensure that all parties involved are aware that we represent you, which should assist you, in keeping the ‘hassle’ to a minimum. We will make all necessary liability enquiries, ensuring you are updated regularly on our progress.
Attending at Court
Claims are often raised in the court in which the harmful event occurred in Scotland. Whilst the majority of cases are settled without the need to go to a full court hearing, our solicitors would be there to support and represent you if this was required. As a result, our Solicitors will travel around Scotland to assist our clients in recovering their losses following a road traffic accident. We also acknowledge that a large proportion of road traffic accidents will happen closer to home and it would be inconvenient to travel to another court which is not local to you.
A large proportion of our cases are centred on the central belt. We appear regularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hamilton and Paisley. However, we do travel further afield when this is required to assist our clients.
Some of the courts I have appeared in include:
- Airdrie
- Ayr
- Dumbarton
- Dundee
- Forfar
- Greenock
- Inverness
- Lanark
- Livingston
- Peterhead
- Selkirk
- Stirling
Two of my cases involved travelling to the Scottish Islands of Shetland and Stornoway. It was a great opportunity to appear in a new court and to gain further experience in advocacy. I also had the opportunity to squeeze in some of the local sights whilst I waited for my flight home. (I now only need to attend Kirkwall before I can say I have appeared in all of our Island Courts. I have also been assured I should be guaranteed the case). I also enjoy bringing back some local treats back to the team such as Fudge from the Shetland Fudge Company.
