Legal specialists across Hudgell Solicitors’ work departments and locations have been hailed for their industry-leading knowledge and exceptional client care, securing ‘Top Tier Firm’ status in the newly published and highly respected 2021 Legal 500 guide.
In total 14 senior solicitors have been recommended for their work in the latest publication as either ‘leading individuals’, ‘key lawyers’ or as a result of receiving exceptional client testimonials.
The firm’s long-standing personal injury and clinical negligence departments are again highly ranked in both London and Yorkshire and the Humber, as is a growing travel litigation team which supports people seriously injured abroad.
And with the firm boasting the largest number of individual lawyers ever represented in the guide, chief executive Rachel Di Clemente says it reflects the high level of expertise recruited and developed across England and Wales in recent years.
“The Legal 500 guide is the publication all leading law firms seek to be included in, so it is particularly pleasing to see us have an increasing presence year after year, with 14 specialists recommended in the latest guide and the company now also recognised as a ‘Top Tier Firm’,” said Mrs Di Clemente.
“What is particularly pleasing is the excellent testimonials given to the independent researchers at Legal 500 by clients whom we have served over the past 12 months, and the numerous comments made about our level of experience, knowledge and expertise, matching that which can be found at firms which are larger in size.
“Alongside the many comments about excellent client care, the guide gives a very positive overall view of our firm and that is a great credit to the solicitors we have working for us, who are dedicated to providing the best possible service at all times.”
Guide highlights ‘unparalleled client care’ and ‘meticulous approach’
The guide says the Hudgell team ‘show unparalleled client care and really make clients feel that they are working in their best interests’ in cases relating to catastrophic and life-changing injuries, fatalities, and matters involving extensive periods of rehabilitation.
Clinical negligence expertise across London and the south is described as having ‘real strength in depth with a large experienced team capable of handling all types of enquiries’.
The personal injury department is hailed for its ‘unparalleled client care’, saying it ‘really make clients feel that they are working in their best interests.
It highlights London-based catastrophic injury specialist Kent Pattinson for his ‘huge experience in claimant personal injury litigation, having run many of the leading spinal injury cases in the past three decades’.
It adds: “He is enormously empathetic with clients and offers great support throughout the litigation process because he has unique insight on the toll that litigation takes. He is pragmatic and has a good feel for when to fight and when to compromise.’
Clinical negligence solicitor Josie Robinson is named as a ‘key lawyer’, as is fellow senior solicitor Sharon Lam, whom the guide describes as ‘a force to be reckoned with’.
Amanda Stevens, Managing Director for London and the South, is described as ‘incredibly experienced in clinical negligence work’ with ‘exhaustive knowledge of the legal principles’.
The firm’s Abuse claims team is also hailed as ‘well managed’ and ‘experienced’, with the guide highlighting its strengths in ‘providing a specialist service based on a real commitment to the client’s interests, particularly when dealing with highly damaged individuals.’
‘The level of expertise overall is easily on a par with other larger specialist firms’, it adds, describing solicitor Malcolm Johnson as someone with ‘an encyclopaedic knowledge of the legal issues on these cases’, and ‘one of foremost solicitors specialising in claimant abuse cases‘.
Experience of senior team reflected in firm’s northern heartlands
The firm’s heartland areas across the north of England are again well represented in the guide, highlighting expertise in cases relating to brain and spinal cord injuries, missed diagnosis claims, avoidable amputations and serious birth injuries.
Head of Personal Injury Jane Woodcock is again recommended for her work, and when referencing clinical negligence teams across Yorkshire the guide says: “They are meticulous in their approach to investigating claims. The litigators are friendly, collaborative, and are a delight to work with.’
It says: “There is much skill and experience, particularly in the senior roles. Chris Moore is the standout solicitor, with perhaps 25 years’ experience in clinical negligence claims of maximum severity. He has a painstaking approach. Vince Shore has similar experience.’
Nick Stojanovic is described as an ‘exceptional litigator’ who is ‘thorough in his approach and offers pragmatic advice’, whilst Sarah Scully is recommended as a ‘brilliant and a safe pair of hands’, adding that ‘her instructions are clear and she is able to put her clients at ease’.
Tasmin White is praised for being ‘sympathetic to client needs, focused, practical and has significant attention to detail’, adding that she will ‘always go the extra mile.’
Solicitor Paul McClorry is again included in the guide as a ‘Leading Individual’ and praised for a ‘second to none’ work ethic and an ‘ability to recognise other problems that he feels need to be addressed at certain times on a personal level.”
It says that his leadership has ensured the firm’s growing Travel Litigation department is ‘on a solid footing’ when representing in cases involving catastrophic injuries, accidents, and life-altering injuries which occur abroad.