The team at Clyde & Co is ‘top of the class‘ when it comes to representing public sector entities, corporations, and insurers in claims involving fundamental dishonesty, and catastrophic personal injuries sustained in the course of employment or road traffic accidents. Chris Murray and Stuart Furniss jointly lead the team from Manchester and Liverpool respectively. Furniss routinely achieves early settlement for public and motor liability claims where claimants have sustained severe head or orthopaedic injuries, while Murray handles a broad range of serious injury and psychological injury claims. Nicola Overmire has broad expertise in subtle brain injury and amputation claims, and ‘hugely intelligent‘ large loss claims expert Andrew Kerr primarily acts for corporate policyholders, local authorities, and insurers. David Spencer is noted for his ‘unparalleled knowledge‘ of fatal and catastrophic injury claims in motorsports, while the ‘outstanding‘ Chris Eccles is particularly adept at acting for insurers in road traffic accident, employers’ and public liability cases. Jonathan Clay and David Wynn have since left the firm.

Spread between the Blackburn, Manchester, and Leeds offices, the ‘first-class‘ team at Forbes Solicitors acts for a diverse client list of commercial insureds, sports associations, and national housing builders. Chris Booth heads up the firm’s insurance, anti-fraud, and disease groups, handling a broad range of industrial disease cases and fraudulent claims. Paul Geldard‘s caseload consists of high-value, life-changing personal injury construction claims, while Kella Bowers leads the inquests, social services, and abuse claims practice, with her primary focus being child sexual exploitation and human rights cases. Elizabeth Bower is the firm’s casualty and insurance housing lead, Ridwaan Omar regularly represents local authorities and construction companies, and Andrew Ellis stands out due to his longstanding experience in motor and public sector claims, with a distinctive focus on harassment and bullying issues. Nicola Dawn is a key name for occupational disease claims involving hand arm vibration syndrome and noise induced hearing loss. Lucy Harris left the firm in September 2023, and Jonathan Clay joined the team as a consultant.

The ‘hugely impressive‘ team at Kennedys stands out for its strong focus on sporting injury, occupiers’, and employers’ liability claims. Gordon Davidson has longstanding experience in HSE investigations, and Richard McKeown is noted for his ‘encyclopaedic‘ knowledge of the hospitality sector, while Christopher Oldfield often acts for leisure clients, in addition to sporting bodies. Ian Ford often acts for logistics and construction sector clients in severe injury claims. The ‘fantastic‘ Lauren Gosnell stands out for handling catastrophic injury claims, often in relation to brain and spinal cord injuries, and neurological functional disorders.

Keoghs LLP‘s ‘outstanding‘ practice handles a myriad of claims for public bodies, self-insured companies and insurers. Ian Carroll leads the abuse team in Liverpool, acting for insurers, religious organisations, and sports clubs in both historical and recent abuse cases. Sarah Swan specialises in group actions and cases involving failures to remove or protect, and Lauranne Nolan is known for her knowledge of safeguarding issues. In Bolton, Mark Whalley handles major road traffic collision and public liability claims involving severe injuries for insurers, while Emma Spencer is a specialist in premature birth cases. Manchester’s Mike Pope is renowned for acting in brain injury and polytrauma cases, and fundamental dishonesty cases. Bolton’s Gary Herring is a credit hire claims expert.

The ‘excellent‘ Liverpool-based practice at Weightmans LLP is divided into sub-groups for casualty, large loss, motor, disease, and public authority claims. Will Quinn primarily acts for insurers in catastrophic injury claims, and David Holt is an expert in non-indemnity insurance, and claims involving severe head and spinal injuries. Peter Forshaw is well-placed to assists insurers and corporates with employers’, public, and product liability claims, and is noted for his strong focus on drone-related work. ‘Star player‘ Rebecca Blythe routinely advises clients on indemnity, and catastrophic injury and chronic pain cases.

Praised by clients for its ‘enviable knowledge and experience‘, the team at DWF is well placed to handle a broad range of claims involving elements of fraud, and traumatic brain and orthopaedic injuries. Practice co-head Jewels Chamberlain‘s primary focus is on motor related litigation, while Stuart Poole leads on the counter fraud side. Manchester based co-head Ian Slater is a catastrophic injury expert, and Dave Young has vast knowledge of cases concerning brain injuries and amputations. Hannah Fitzgerald is noted for her broad expertise, spanning public and employers’ liability claims, and her distinctive focus on fraudulent claims. David Wynn joined the team and leads the firm’s casualty practice.

Mark Woodall and Leanne Thomson jointly lead the practice at Horwich Cohen Coghlan Solicitors, which acts for a diverse client base of self-insured defendants, insurers, and UK claims handlers. Thomson handles numerous motor claims, acting for both UK and foreign insurers. Woodall is known for his expertise in employers’ and public liability claims, in addition to advising on overseas claims made by UK nationals.