Areas of Work offered by Schofields

Accident and injury claims
Clinical Negligence claims
Professional Negligence Claims
Contract and Consumer Disputes
Property / Land Disputes
Residential Possession Claims
Partnership Disputes
Criminal Injuries Compensation
Debt Recovery

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Accident & Injury Claims

If you have suffered personal injury in an accident, or in circumstances that was not your fault, then you may be entitled to compensation. The law requires that you are able to establish legal fault against another party. If successful, you are entitled to General Damages and Special Damages. General Damages is an award of money for pain and suffering. Special Damages consist of financial loss arising out of your injuries, typically, loss of earnings, property and clothing damage, medical treatment fees, travelling expenses, and in some cases, an award of money for care and assistance where you have been provided with either paid or unpaid help from friends and relatives.

Schofields are dedicated to the recovery of damages for injury victims. In the last five years, we have recovered approaching £4 million pounds in damages for our clients. We are also happy to advise businesses in relation to health and safety issues in order to try and avoid the possibility of accidents occurring in the first instance.

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Clinical Negligence Claims

It is a sad fact of life that there are an ever increasing number of people who are the victims of negligent medical treatment or advice. The main area of claim arises when an illness or injury is not properly diagnosed and thus the wrong treatment is given. Human treatment is not an exact science, so not every medical mistake will amount to negligence, so, it is essential in these types of cases to obtain a favourable written opinion from an experienced practitioner in the same field of medicine.

Schofields have dealt with a wide variety of Clinical Negligence claims, within the last 5 years including a Cerebral Palsy (Brain Damage) case and loss of sight claim.

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Professional Negligence Claims

This area covers claims against other non medical professionals, including Solicitors, Surveyors, Accountants and Architects. As with Clinical negligence cases, a written opinion from an expert in the same profession will most likely be required to deal with both the issue of fault and the losses incurred as a result.

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Contract and Consumer Disputes

There are millions of transactions for the sale and supply of goods and services every day. What is common to each transaction is that it involves a contract between the parties involved. The dispute could involve two businesses, it may involve a business and an individual or it may even involve a number of individuals.

The dispute may arise from the sale of defective goods. It may be that building or other work has been carried out badly, or not in accordance with the contract.

The starting point is the contract or agreement between the Parties. The contract will often be in writing, although that does not have to be the case. In the absence of a written contract it is for a Court to decide the intention of the Parties and consider any implied terms of such a contract before going on to consider whether there has been a breach of that contract.

Matters are often more straightforward where there is a written contract as that will help define the intentions and obligations of the Parties. However, even then, disputes can sometimes arise as to the meaning and effect of terms within the contract.

Once a Court has determined the intention of the Parties and clarified the terms of the contract, the Court will then consider the nature of any breach, before finally deciding what remedy is appropriate. Most often, the remedy will be an award of damages. However, other remedies are open to the Court including specific performance, which may require a Party to complete a Contract.

The rules and case law relating to Contract cases are complicated and wide ranging. At Schofields, we have experience of many different types of Contract Disputes and in advising and acting for individuals and businesses alike.

Litigation in this area is expensive and time consuming and often carries with it uncertainties – what lawyers call “the risk of litigation”. For that reason, we recommend that professional legal advice is sought at an early stage to try and “nip” such disputes “in the bud”.
At Schofields, we are always happy to try and provide some initial helpful advice in connection with a possible dispute.

We accept that it is not always possible to avoid litigation and for that reason we are able to deal with ongoing litigation and to advise and arrange Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”), which the Courts are keen to promote as a way of resolving civil disputes.

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Property and Land Disputes

“A man’s home is his castle”. There has never been a truer saying. This is an area which probably raises the blood pressure more than any other type of problem, apart probably from Divorce and family issues. There may be an argument over the extent or boundaries of land, or rights over land. There may be arguments of trespass to land. It may be a dispute with a neighbour over building work on or near land owned by you with issues involving the right to light. This is a complicated area, sometimes involving Planning issues.

At Schofields, we aim to provide practical and sound advice about your rights and obligations in relation to Real Property and land and have access to other relevant experts in this difficult field of law.

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Residential Possession Claims.

Here, we offer a service to Landlords seeking possession of residential property owned by them. There are strict rules and regulations to be adhered to in these cases if an Order for Possession is to be obtained. The rules probably do favour tenants, so try to avoid the pitfalls by instructing us at an early stage.

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Partnership Disputes

Partnerships are governed by The Partnership Act 1890. Our experience shows that once a relationship between business partners breaks down, it is usually irretrievable.

Court proceedings relating to the formal dissolution of Partnership and the taking of accounts is an expensive process. For that reason, we aim to adopt a pro active approach to negotiations between Partners to reach a satisfactory informal dissolution. Again, we recommend that legal advice is taken at an early stage.

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Criminal Injuries Compensation

There is a Government based scheme operated by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (“CICA”), which makes awards of compensation to innocent victims of violent crime. The CICA has it’s own set of criteria for making awards, including the requirement to have reported promptly an incident to the police and assisted with their enquiries. Interestingly, there is no formal requirement for the assailant to have been prosecuted successfully, or even traced.

We can advise about the likely prospects of a successful claim and assist with a formal application.

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Debt Recovery

We can advise and assist in relation to legal methods of recovering both disputed and undisputed debts, including insolvency proceedings against both individuals and incorporated bodies.

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Other legal matters

There are many areas of law that we do not deal with. However, if in doubt please give us a call. If we cannot help you, we may well be able to recommend someone who can.