It’s Time for the Personal Injury Legal Sector to Tell Its Own Story

When I meet law graduates or people seeking a career-change, I often wonder what they see when they look at personal injury law. Do they see a profession that helps people rebuild lives after trauma? Or do they only see headlines and hear narrative about a sector in decline – some of which, if we are being honest, we’ve been telling ourselves?

As a CEO of a major personal injury law firm, I worry that we’ve allowed the story of reforms and challenges to become the story of our profession. It risks shaping how people, whether looking to enter personal injury law or are already practising within it, perceive the sector and the opportunities it offers.

We’ve come to define ourselves too narrowly by past challenges and events, and we risk obscuring the real picture of a field of law that continues to adapt, innovate and deliver work of genuine social value.

There’s no denying the facts. The OIC reforms and the extension of Fixed Recoverable Costs, as just two examples, have fundamentally reshaped our economics. In the past five years alone, the number of law firms where PI makes up half or more of revenue has fallen by 35%, the number of barristers focused mainly on PI has dropped 17% and CILEX members in our field have declined by 40%. These are rational adjustments to market pressures, but from the outside, they can look like retreat.

If that’s not enough, the talent gap has also been widened by the ‘Great Retirement’. Many experienced professionals left the workforce after the pandemic – colleagues who would have been mentors, advocates and role models for those starting out. Their absence is felt acutely, not only in capability but in storytelling: fewer voices to showcase why PI matters and why it’s worth pursuing as a career.

There is no escaping the fact that this situation has been compounded by market consolidation. As firms have shifted away from volume RTA or exited PI altogether, traditional roles have disappeared or moved elsewhere. The result? Fewer opportunities for new entrants to learn from seasoned practitioners, at exactly the moment we need to replenish and grow our talent base as a sector.

That is precisely why we must be careful and more proactive about the story we tell about ourselves. If all people hear is consolidation, exit and contraction, they will conclude that personal injury law is a profession in managed decline.

The reality I see every day is very different. This is not a sector withering on the vine, but one that is evolving and proving its resilience.

Every day, PI professionals secure the funding that enables recovery and rehabilitation, hold negligent parties to account and alleviate pressure on public services by ensuring injured people receive the care they need privately. This is work of genuine societal value, demanding intellectual rigour, technical expertise and bags of human empathy.

And the firms that have emerged stronger from recent reforms are often those offering broader career paths, richer training opportunities, greater exposure to complex cases and increasingly modern, tech-enabled working environments.

Our sectors story isn’t one of contraction, but of adaptation.

This matters now more than ever. Cuts to Level 7 apprenticeship funding risk closing off an important entry route for people in their twenties – the very group most likely to bring fresh energy into our sector. But sustaining our future isn’t only about new entrants; it also depends on retaining experienced colleagues and giving them the scope to mentor, guide and inspire the next generation. If we fail to show both groups that personal injury law is still a credible, purposeful and rewarding career choice, we risk losing not just fresh talent, but the knowledge and support that helps that talent thrive.

For too long, we’ve allowed others to tell our story. From some corners of the insurance sector casting the narrative around wholesale fraud and exaggerated claims, defendant firms portraying claimant lawyers as opportunistic rather than principled or the media leaning on stereotypes – we’ve not always been proactive or well organised in correcting those perceptions.

The ‘ambulance chaser’ image has lingered too long in the public domain, precisely because we have left too much space for others to define us.

That has to change. We must be more deliberate in how we present ourselves – to future lawyers, to our partners and to society as a whole. That means emphasising the expertise our work requires, the societal contribution we make and the diverse career opportunities that exist in modern PI practice. It means championing apprenticeships and alternative pathways and being proud to say this is a profession where your work has impact.

If we don’t tell our own story, others will continue to do so for us. And their version won’t reflect the real contribution we make to individuals, communities and society.

The resilience that our sector has shown in adapting to change now needs to be matched by a collective confidence in how we promote our profession. Because without new talent coming through, no amount of operational adaptation will sustain us.

It’s time for all of us in personal injury law to tell our own story – clearly, confidently and with pride.

By doing so, we can attract and inspire new talent, retain and develop the expertise already within our ranks and ensure our profession is recognised for what it truly is: dynamic, purposeful and vital to the lives of the people we serve.