Filmmakers have a wide variety of camera techniques at their disposal to help them tell their story to best effect. One of the most powerful tools directors can employ is the split diopter lens, which makes it possible to have two subjects at different distances in the frame simultaneously – and both in focus. In his 1951 film, Strangers on a Train, Alfred Hitchcock wanted a telephone to be in a foreground close-up while actors in the background remained in focus. This was to emphasise the importance of the incoming phone call. The limitations of camera lenses at the time meant he could not make it work. He fixed the problem by having a giant phone in the foreground and putting a regular-sized phone in Ruth Roman’s hand as she came to answer it. The camera view tilted up as she approached (moving the monster phone out of shot). The 1984 film comedy, Top Secret, spoofed that set-up, with the foreground telephone remaining in shot throughout and the army officer Continue Reading
Choosing a Solicitor to Help with your Personal Injury Claim
How do you go about choosing someone to help you with a personal injury compensation claim?
How do you even know if you need help?
What if there's a 'friendly' insurer (the other person's insurer) offering to help you sort out your claim?
What if they're offering to set you up with a solicitor to run your claim for you? Why would they do that? What's in it for them.
The numerous articles here cover issues which come up when you're thinking about choosing a solicitor to help you with your personal injury claim.
Please also see our main page on Choosing your Personal Injury Solicitor
How Grigor & Young help you with a road traffic accident injury claim in Moray
Grigor & Young LLP, Solicitors, use Moray Claims as a trading name in their business of dealing with personal injury compensation claims for clients. Grigor & Young have offices in Elgin and Forres, Moray. Personal injury compensation claims arising from road traffic accidents are usually against insurers of the driver who was to blame for the accident. If that driver was uninsured or is untraced, the claim may be against the Motor Insurers' Bureau. Injuries resulting from road traffic accidents can happen in many different ways. If we take on your claim at G&Y, it will be via one of the following three funding methods. Legal aid Whether you qualify for legal aid depends upon your financial circumstances. If you qualify for legal aid, we will give close consideration to using that as the funding mechanism for the claim though we will also discuss with you the other options mentioned below. Note that, if your claim is successful under any form Continue Reading
How Grigor & Young help you with an accident-on-premises claim in Moray
Grigor & Young LLP, Solicitors, use Moray Claims as a trading name in their business of dealing with personal injury compensation claims for clients. Grigor & Young have offices in Elgin and Forres, Moray. Claims arising from accidents on premises are usually against the person or business which has control over the land or buildings in question. Injuries resulting from accidents on premises – also known as occupiers’ liability claims – can result in a wide variety of ways. If we take on your claim at G&Y, it will be via one of the following three funding methods. Legal aid Your eligibility for legal aid depends upon your financial circumstances. If you qualify for legal aid, we will look closely at using that as the funding mechanism for the claim though we will also discuss with you the other options mentioned below. It is worth noting that, if your claim is successful under any form of Scottish legal aid, you will receive 100% of your Continue Reading
How Grigor & Young will help you with your accident at work claim in Moray
Moray Claims is a trading name of Grigor & Young LLP, Solicitors. Grigor & Young have offices in Elgin and Forres, Moray. Accidents at work cover a wide range of accidents. If we take on your claim at G&Y, we will do so in one of three ways. Legal aid Eligibility for legal aid will depend on your financial circumstances. If you qualify for legal aid, we will give serious consideration to using that as the funding mechanism for the claim but we will also discuss with you the other options mentioned below. Note that if your claim is successful under any form of Scottish legal aid, you will receive 100% of your compensation. The legal aid rules prevent your solicitor taking any form of Success Fee as a deduction from your compensation. "Before the event" (BTE) insurance This is a type of legal expenses insurance which you may have attached to buildings or contents insurance, for example. Many people have this type of legal expenses insurance cover Continue Reading
Why Personal Injury Claims are a Buyer’s Market
Water seems a rather boring substance. Ice floats in water, as you'd expect. But is that typical behaviour for substances as between their liquid and solid forms? As you cool water down, it contracts until you get to 4°C. Then it suddenly expands again and its density reduces. So, by the time water freezes to ice, you have a material which is less dense than the liquid that it’s sitting on. There is no other known molecular material which will actually float on its melt. As a comparison, if you look at the olive oil sold in a supermarket, on a relatively cold day, at the bottom of the bottle there is an off-whitish deposit. That is olive oil ice. Olive oil is a 'normal' liquid which, when it freezes, contracts. The frozen stuff goes down to the bottom. Water brainwashes us from a young age to think that when you freeze a fluid it should become a solid which goes to the surface. But water is unique in that respect. With Personal Injury Compensation Continue Reading
Difficult questions to ask your personal injury solicitor to ensure they are a perfect fit for your case
The Earth has not always experienced total solar eclipses as they are now. A solar eclipse happens when the Moon’s orbit takes it on a path directly between the Earth and the Sun. If the whole of the Sun’s disc is blocked out by the Moon, that is a total solar eclipse. The fact that the Moon can perfectly blot out the Sun – no more, no less – is an amazing coincidence. The diameter of the Moon is about 400 times less than the diameter of the Sun. The Moon is also approximately 400 times nearer to the Earth than the Sun. So, from the perspective of someone on Earth, it is possible for the Sun and the Moon to line up and for the Moon to perfectly blot out the Sun. The Moon is gradually moving away from us on Earth at about the same rate that finger nails grow. In the distant future, the Moon will be noticeably further away than it is now and so will appear smaller in the sky. It will no longer be a ‘perfect fit’ for the Sun. If you need to make a personal injury Continue Reading
6 reasons why you should not let the stress of making a personal injury claim put you off
We get stressed about money, reputation, safety, relationships, life changes… Life changes are a journey. And they’re journeys that usually involve stress. By the end, you're a different person. Both elements – change and stress – play their part in the transformation process. Personal injury claims are stressful. In this article, we’ll look at the nature and causes of the various stresses. Then, having considered these ‘problems’, we’ll list out the ‘solutions’ - the reasons why, nevertheless, you should go ahead with a personal injury compensation claim. Getting injured creates its own acute stress at the time. Often, there’s immediate severe pain. Beyond that, you have a loss of independence – with increased dependence on others. And also fears for the future: will you recover to full fitness? Most people seek legal representation for a personal injury compensation claim after the acute phase of the injury is over. Perhaps after you get out of hospital or after you Continue Reading
What actually happens if you enquire about a personal injury claim
If you’re considering contacting us - or any solicitor - about making a personal injury claim, even if you think you might want to get in touch, lots of things can put you off at the last minute. Some doubt or some distraction may get in the way. There are many possible barriers to taking the final step and getting in touch. We want you to get in touch and not be prevented from doing so. Enquiries are free and without obligation to take things further with us. Any work that follows after we take on your personal injury claim is free of charge in most cases anyway. This article tries to provide answers to the questions that might be swirling around in your head. The questions and objections holding you back from phoning us or sending us a free online enquiry. If you’re wondering why you should get in touch with us rather than someone else who provides personal injury compensation claims services… We’re accredited specialist solicitors. We are experienced. Continue Reading
How to avoid throwing money away on your personal injury claim
Scottish solicitors’ firms have to do formal risk management training every year. This is particularly to minimise the risk of making mistakes which might mean we end up getting sued because of losses we might cause to our clients. We had a recent session in our Elgin office where the “system” to assess risks in our work on a daily basis was summarised as: Stop and think Do as you have been told (i.e. we have a lot of systems and procedures already for managing risk) Repeat one and two Everything looks clear with hindsight. You want to avoid looking back on things with regret, if possible. It can be especially annoying if, due to not “stopping and thinking”, you make a silly error which results in a loss to you personally or to your workplace. It’s a bit like that with personal injury claims and, from our perspective, there is an avoidable mistake many injured people make at the start of their personal injury claim. It causes financial loss to them. It’s not obvious, though, Continue Reading
Should you use the insurer-appointed solicitor or an independent solicitor for your personal injury claim?
We received the following question in an enquiry via our website: “After a road accident (not own fault) is it better to claim personal injury through solicitor provided by my insurer or through independent solicitor?” Here are 5 things you could consider which might help you reach a decision on that issue. 1. How experienced and qualified is the person handling your claim? It would be nice to be able to take it as a “given" that the level of experience and expertise of the two types of adviser are the same. However, that is not necessarily safe to assume. Knowing whether your claim is going to be handled by a solicitor or by a paralegal (or by an administration person) could be important. If you're getting help from a solicitor, you have a clear benchmark of legal training. With a paralegal or claim handler, that's not so obvious. In general terms, you're looking for a solicitor who has a proven track record in dealing specifically with personal injury claims. All Continue Reading
Why First Consultation Free is not good enough for personal injury claims (and what is better for you)
Is one font better for your memory than another? Can the design of the typeface used to put information into a readable form make a difference to how well you will recall that information later? Research on this issue at RMIT University in Melbourne concluded that most of the fonts we see every day are similar. Their familiarity means we often glance over the words they form and no memory trace is created. On the other hand, at the other end of the spectrum, if typography is too different from the norm, the brain does not process it well and, again, we don’t retain the information. Is there a way to overcome this balancing act between over-familiarity and unreadableness? RMIT has developed the font, Sans Forgetica, which could be the answer. They say it lies at a sweet spot where, although the appearance of the font forms something of a barrier to the learning process, overall it helps the learning process rather than hindering it. They have proved this via a mixed lab Continue Reading
How not to market your personal injury claims services
That's right. You don't spell it "nuisiance". But spelling mistakes in stock photography are not regarded as a nuisance at Moray Claims. They brighten our day. Anyhow... Like all businesses, law firms must market their products and services. In the end, it all comes down to trust. Having a website with a wide range of educational information is part of the process of encouraging you to get to know, like and trust the solicitors (or other legal services provider) marketing their services to you online. Beyond that, the first impression you get - when you pluck up the courage to contact a solicitor - will be important to you. Most websites have contact forms you can fill in and submit. Should you choose to make contact by phone, however - How long does it take for the telephone to be answered? How long will it take for your call to be transferred to a solicitor who might actually be able to deal with your case? One thing which comes up repeatedly in advice Continue Reading