At Slater and Gordon we appreciate how difficult
it is in the first place for people to be
able to tell us what's happened so the minute
someone rings through to our helpline we make
sure that they don't have to recount their
stories too many times. Often they're telling
you for the first time and it's very very
painful.
It's very important to understand that you
have an absolute legal right to confidentiality,
you have a legal right to anonymity in any
legal case and we are very skilled and experienced
in protecting that right. So we will ensure
that any details you do give us are kept confidential.
We always treat you, victims, as individuals,
not as a number, not a statistic, an individual,
because if we're going to take on your case
and we're going to try and get the result
that you want it requires working together
as a team.
It's very important with cases as sensitive
as this that you feel able to talk to us - and
I don't want this to sound like a platitude
- but as you would do a friend. And it matters
not whether your case is about a celebrity
like Savile or whether you've been abused
by a teacher or a doctor or anyone in your
life; abuse is abuse. It's dreadful.
It is absolutely vital that people only go
to specialist lawyers in this area and we
are now the largest abuse firm in the country,
and we are that for a reason - because we
are very good at what we do. We care passionately
about our clients, and we really really want
to help people.
These cases are very difficult cases and often
dealing with very personal and traumatic memories
for people. I think that it's important that
people who've been through such a difficult
process have the opportunity to obtain justice,
but also feel that they have been believed.
One of the things that people tell me regularly
is that they've kept this to themself for
such a long time and they just want somebody
to confirm that we believe what they're saying.
And to have that confirmation that somebody
has listened to them will help them in some
way to get a sense of closure.
I'm passionately committed to getting justice
for victims of abuse. I'm very proud to lead
this team because what we do not only is about
getting justice for individuals, which is very
important, but it's also about making sure
that organisations where children have been
abused are held to account and that we use
the legal process to ensure these things are
prevented in the future.
