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Claim farming may ‘bring profession into disrepute’
The president of a state representative body has questioned the ethics of harvesting practices such as claim farming and expressed concerns about the future of professional standards.
Jerome Doraisamy
Law Society of New South Wales president Doug Humphreys said that while claim farming – whereby potential clients are targeted for compensation claims by companies through strategies such as cold-calling or social media advertising – is legal in the state (save for compulsory third-party claims), there must be a reassessment of our ethical boundaries.
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“We must question whether our professional ethics should permit financial gain where it results from the sale of private information by a third party or at the expense of potential intrusions on a client’s privacy, forceful sales tactics or undue influence,” he wrote in a statement to Law Society members.
NSW Law Society is concerned that “unchecked growth” in claim farming could, at its worst, “encourage unmeritorious claims and potentially escalate premiums” for clients, he noted.
“An expected increase in harvesting via online platforms poses serious questions for governments, insurers and legal practitioners,” he wrote.
“Our relationships with our clients are sacrosanct, built on trust and transparency. Clients are often vulnerable and potentially open to oppression, undue influence or disadvantage.”
“Our advice should never be influenced by relationships with third parties,” he added.
Members of the public are right to be concerned about how claim farmers obtain their personal information and how it is then used.
“The Law Society will engage with stakeholders from the legal profession, regulators, government and insurance industry to investigate possible solutions to address the community’s concerns about claim farming,” he concluded.
Mr Humphrey’s comments follow Lawyers Weekly’s ongoing coverage of the claim farming allegations made against Slater and Gordon, responses from the profession, and the questions raised by such harvesting practices.
