It sounds just like a different kind of no win / no fee ambulance chaser. Why would you ring them first before your insurance company?
Don't be fooled by the "No Win, No Fee" slogan, i looked into this last year and basically if you don't win the case then you don't pay your solicitor anything, but you do have to pay the other sides court costs and maybe other expenses, they certainly don't shout about that!
There is an insurance you can buy as a safety net, but if you win it's more money out of your compensation to pay out, and you have to bear in mind that solicitors will only take a case on if they think they have a very high chance of winning it, so it begs the question "Do i, don't i?"
Also, if you do win your case then your solicitor takes a percentage of YOUR compensation, which could be up to 25%.
Before they used to charge and get their fees aside from any of your rewards, but that's all changed, so now it comes out of your pocket.