
Nigel
Collected on:
Kate Hallam - Civil claim for wrongful arrest and unlawful detention.
This review is for a different branch.
My first contact with Irvine Thanvi Natas was when Simon Natas offered to represent me for free at my bail hearing following an arrest whilst leafletting from the pavement alongside a Just Stop Oil slow march. He immediately indicated that I had cause for a civil claim against the police and that my prosecution would almost certainly be dropped before it came to trial. That prediction proved to be correct. I was then passed to Kate Hallam in the civil claims department. Having reviewed the evidence, she agreed to represent me on a no-win no-fee basis. We spoke at considerable length about my experience of arrest and detention and took full account of its impact upon me. We then entered into a Part 36 negotiation process, which is designed to avoid the time and costs involved for both parties in claims of this kind going to court. The process was long. Between the date of my wrongful arrest and the agreement from the Metropolitan Police to settle me claim out of court, took about 18 months. This was through no fault of Kate and she had been careful to forewarn me that it was likely to be lengthy process. The final settlement was two and half time what the defendant had originally offered and considerably more than Kate had led me to anticipate. She was herself pleasantly surprised by the level at which the claim as settled. I cannot recommend Kate, and her colleagues, highly enough.
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