A MAN who has spent his legal career in St Helens was named the Times newspaper's 'Lawyer of the Week' earlier this month.
Starting his career as a solicitor in St Helens, Iain MacDonald founded Iain MacDonald Solicitors on Corporation Street in 2001; a firm that specialises in road traffic accidents, personal injury claims, motoring offences, and criminal law.
Relaunching the business as 'IMS Law' in 2013, Iain and the team also place a focus on providing expert service for clients who can't afford legal representation.
It is in this fight for those with fewer finances and a demand for fair payment that led to Iain being covered in the 'Law Society Gazette' and named as the Times' 'Lawyer of the Week'.
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After countless hours spent sifting through evidence for those who can't afford legal representation, Iain challenged the Legal Aid Agency's decision that it would only reimburse the firm for 4 percent of the work done with the prosecution evidence.
With 6,213 pages of prosecution evidence on one particular case, Iain believed this was a significantly unjust way of compensating the work done by lawyers and solicitors, and could have consequences on the quality of support that clients receive in the future.
A legal dispute led by Iain then reached the Senior Courts Cost Office, based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where Iain's appeal was successful.
Rather than 250 pages, the High Court ruled that the law firm should be paid for 4,484 pages of evidence and awarded it £750 costs.
Iain, 56, who is originally from Blackpool, said: "Most of our work at IMS involves people who can't afford legal representation, so I thought it was only right that firms are paid the appropriate rate for the work we put in.
"There can be thousands of pages of evidence to go through now so firms deserve to be paid for their work, and it sets a precedent going forward. Someone even told me it will help lawyers and solicitors in family law too.
"It was great to hear that we won the appeal but to be honest I thought nothing of it. After the Law Society Gazette covered the story, I didn't expect to have the Times on the phone!
"But it highlights the kind of work that we do and everyone in the office is really proud about it."
Information about IMS law can be found here.
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