If you speak to a solicitor for the first time about an asbestos disease claim, even if you know the solicitors because they have done other work for you in the past, ask some of these questions.

• Does the solicitor or do his/her colleagues in the firm also act for insurance companies defending compensation claims brought by victims of asbestos disease?

This is allowed, but you might prefer to have someone doing your case whose firm does not also work for the other side.

• Is the person who will be doing your case a qualified solicitor? If so, will he or she do your case personally>

• How much experience of asbestos compensation claims does the solicitor currently have?

To find this out, you could ask

• What proportion of the solicitor's work involves asbestos claims?

• Has the solicitor taken such cases to court, and if so, how many?

• Does the solicitor have any information about the employers who gave you the disease, for example, have they sued this company previously? If so, what happened?

• Does the solicitor do other types of work as well as compensation claims?

• Is it the solicitors policy to start a court action quickly, or to negotiate with insurers for a long time?

• How long does it typically take the solicitor to get an asbestos compensation case to court?

If it typically takes more than 3 years, the cases are not being done quickly.

• Is the solicitor a member of the Law Society's Personal Injury Panel? If not, why not? Are any of his or her colleagues?

If you do not ask at least some of these questions, you may well end up with someone who is not a specialist, and you risk bad advice and delay. And remember you get just one chance at compensation.

Also ask:

1. Is yours a strong case? If no, why not?

2. How long will it take?

3. How much compensation will you get? If it is not possible to say now, when will it be possible to say?

4. Is a conditional fee agreement being offered?

5. How much money, if any, does the solicitor want from you up front for legal work?

6. Can you take out insurance against the risk of losing the case?

7. How much might you have to pay at the end of a successful case?

Your employer may be big and powerful, but the case will be referred straight to an insurance company. The insurance company only have to pay out if there was some fault by your employer. Nearly every single case is settled without a trial. New court rules encourage settlement before a court action is started. Unless you are critically ill, you have to allow the other side some time to settle your claim before you begin a court action. But you will get your case settled faster and for more money if your solicitor takes a grip on the case and starts a court action quickly.

Some solicitors prefer not to start court actions because it means more effort for them. It is easier to wait and see if the insurance company will make an offer. But it is often not better for you. Avoid solicitors who will not force the pace. Everybody knows that cases take too long, and the longer it takes to get a court action started and bring it to an end, the longer it will be before you get paid out.