Lawyers’ responsibility for claimant health in injury compensation schemes: developing an ethical response

This chapter explores how claimant lawyers might ethically respond to evidence of the negative health impacts of stressful claims on their clients. It begins by providing a profile of the lawyers involved and the compensation schemes they work in. It then turns to consider the underexplored question of whether and to what extent lawyers might contribute to the claim-related health impacts some clients experience. Parker and Evans’ framework of ethical approaches to lawyering and an ethics in context approach are used to examine the explanations and justifications for various aspects of lawyers’ work in this setting, and the ethical issues that arise. The chapter identifies the challenge in balancing the various possible roles of the claimant lawyer, which may indeed be in tension. We conclude that a more nuanced approach to ethics is required to enable lawyers to formulate a multi-dimensional and sustainable response to stressful claimant experiences.