Hudgell Solicitors were delighted to be commended for our work in representing the interests of thousands of injured people who need access to specialist legal support at The Lawyer Awards in London.
Our lawyers attended the glittering awards ceremony, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, alongside around 1,300 lawyers and senior corporate counsel.
The event is recognised as the biggest night of the year for the legal profession, where best practice and excellence is celebrated across the industry.
Hudgell Solicitors were shortlisted, and commended, in the Litigation Team of the Year Award, in recognition of a number of impressive achievements on behalf of both the claims profession and claimants over the past 12 months.
This included our securing of a long awaited Court of Appeal ruling that a conditional fee agreement (CFA) can be validly transferred from one firm to another.
Budana v Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust became a test case which is expected to have an enormous financial impact on firms conducting personal injury, clinical negligence and likely some other claims types.
The ruling was described by Nick Bacon QC as the most important affecting costs since the Jackson reforms were introduced, overturning a County Court ruling preventing law firms from recovering costs through success fees from cases taken over from other firms.
The Law Society has estimated that there could be tens of thousands of clients who rely on ‘no win no fee’ agreements, and solicitors firms being able to take over their cases from others, who will benefit as a result.
Successful damages cases highlighted as part of Hudgell Solicitors shortlisting
Other examples of litigation excellence from the Hudgell team which secured a place amongst the elite included securing a rare High Court ruling to award £2.4m interim damages to a severely disabled 12-year-old girl – one of the highest interim damages awards following last year’s change in discount rate.
This legal success was described as ‘life-changing’ for the girl and her family, who’d struggled to find suitable accommodation.
Judges were also aware of damages being secured for the families of children abused by Cambridgeshire consultant Myles Bradbury, despite there being no legal precedent or set law, as our specialist litigators argued his offending had a devastating impact on both the children and their wider families.
High-value settlements of £14.3m and £8m for children left with lifelong injuries due to errors made by medical staff during pregnancy and birth were also highlighted.