Oakwood Solicitors Military claims specialist and solicitor Liam Hill was featured on The Late Night Veteran Show on Friday.
Ahead of Remembrance Day, he dispelled some of the legal myths surrounding claims against the Ministry of Defence, and what ex-servicemen might be entitled to if they have suffered physical or mental injuries as a result of their time in service.
Liam has a long-standing family background within the military and now strives to support veterans seeking legal justice. Partnered with veterans charity Frontfoot Ltd and part of the Armed Forces Covenant, Oakwood Solicitors aims to help ex-servicemen and women with all of their legal matters, including workplace injuries, divorce, and employment issues.
Speaking about working with veterans, Liam said: “We’re there to talk to you on a human level about any issues you might have that we can assist with, and that’s what we’re there for.
“Everybody that comes to us, the first chat that we have with you there’s no worries for you whatsoever, it’s all completely free of charge with us at the start, and you talk to us and we give you some advice and you go away and one way or another knowing where you stand. Hopefully, we can build a really strong network of veterans that we’ve helped and carry on helping the future.”
Below we break down some of the questions he answered.
Common types of Military-related claims we see
Liam explained the types of claims we often see concerning Military personnel at Oakwood Solicitors Ltd.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
“Hearing loss is the big one at the moment, and if anybody is listening to this and dealing with a hearing matter do proceed and carry on with it and hopefully you get something out of it in the end. We deal with those quite heavily at the minute.”
Asbestos
“People have been exposed to asbestos that has been in bunkers and things like that on military service and then it’s 25 to 35 years in latency period for anything like that to develop into a condition which some can unfortunately kill you within 12 to 18 months.
Silicosis
Liam explained how silicosis can often affect people working in a trade in the military.
“Silica can cause significant issues to your lungs and again, major breathing issues. Usually, this is seen in people who were a trade in the military.”
I was medically discharged from the Armed Forces – can I claim?
Liam spoke about what you may be entitled to if you suffered an injury caused by your time in service which later caused you to be medically discharged.
He said: “In terms of medical discharging in the military, if that does occur and there are issues in particular that have occurred before that medical discharge, especially if there’s any wrongdoing on the part of the MoD in particular, then that wrongdoing want putting right.
“If anybody’s had injuries and then any sort of mental health repercussions for example PTSD or whatever type of condition, then if it started to occur especially whilst you were serving or you were on the road to being discharged then there is something that can be done from our point of view.”
What sort of compensation will I get?
Liam explained on the podcast that Oakwood Solicitors Ltd can help by pursuing monetary compensation for veterans. In many cases, instances have occurred which have caused injuries or suffering, but unfortunately, there is no way for the MoD to ‘turn back the clock’ and stop these injuries from happening.
Instead, we can help you pursue compensation to make yourself and your family’s life and future easier. The compensation secured may be used to help you with any future care, counselling or house adaptations that need to be made as a result of your suffering caused by your time in service.
“We are real people, and we care about the people we work for. But we can only work for them if they’re happy to work with us and that’s something we want to push out there. We want to help veterans at the end of the day, we want to hear them out, talk to them understand their story and their position,” Liam said.
Why should I pursue a claim?
On the podcast, Liam explains that our Military clients often pursue claims and use our services for a number of reasons.
Financial
“If people have lost their jobs and they’re out of work, often they’re in dire straights a lot of the time and the money we can hopefully get them can assist them and their families.”
Justice and closure
“A lot of our clients are just glad to have got something after what happened to them. Whether that is in relation to claims against the Ministry of Defence or upon the completion of a family matter and the sum of money can help them get a sense of justice and closure.”
What other services can Oakwood Solicitors help with?
As well as Military Injury and Disease claims as mentioned above, Oakwood Solicitors can assist ex-servicemen and veterans with other legal matters such as Wills and Divorce.
Liam spoke about this with Simon from Frontfoot Jobs:
Simon said: “Veterans can have all the normal things, such as Wills and Divorce but they can be a little more complex. Oakwood Solicitors can deal with that from the veteran view perspective – is that right?”
Liam said: “Exactly, we’ve dealt with veterans for years already. Not in the volumes we are dealing with them now, but we’ve dealt with them for years on all sorts of different matters and from all different walks of life.
“No matter the background, be it a veteran or otherwise the people we talk to are our people first, and it’s about their issues and understanding from their worldview what has gone on and why they need our help and assistance. We want to do that for everybody that we speak to.
What if Oakwood Solicitors can’t help me?
Liam explained that Oakwood Solicitors Ltd offers free initial advice and if we cannot help, we will explain why.
“If we can’t help, and they get what we consider initial advice from us, we don’t charge for anything like that. If they get initial advice from us and we can’t help them, they go away with the knowledge of why we can’t help, but if we can, we will. ”
Liam’s Military Background
Liam has a strong military background after his father got him started out as a standard bearer for the Royal British Legion from the age of 16.
For almost 14 years he took on this role, before becoming secretary and treasurer of his RBL branch. Liam has been part of a military background for a long time thanks to his father who is an ex-royal engineer and his sister who is currently serving as a medic.
Liam and his family also organise their local Remembrance Parade every year.
“I’m very much all about trying to support veterans in my day-to-day life as much as I can and now I want to try and do that through my work as well,” he said.
As well as offering legal services, can Oakwood Solicitors help with further support for veterans?
Yes. Oakwood Solicitors Ltd has partnered with veterans charity Frontfoot, which provides a network of support for ex-servicemen and women. Frontfoot’s network can help veterans look for work, and provide mental health support and services as they enter civilian life.
Legal Matters Oakwood Solicitors Ltd can assist with
Oakwood Solicitors Ltd can assist veterans with most areas of law. Below we have broken down what we can help with:
- Noise Induced Hearing Loss
- Asbestosis/Respiratory Diseases
Liam Hill is a Solicitor and Deputy Head of the Industrial Disease Team, having trained and qualified at Oakwood Solicitors. Liam joined us in 2013 after successfully completing the Legal Practice C…
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