Hudgell Solicitors is reaping the rewards of moving into Manchester with an ever-growing team of legal experts taking on bigger offices in the city and running high-profile legal cases.
Having opened up with just one senior lawyer based in the city in the summer of 2018, Hudgells has recently moved into bigger offices in its base at the 1 St Peter’s Square complex.
It now boasts teams specialising in civil liberties and human rights, personal injury, medical negligence, criminal injuries, travel litigation and court of protection – with recruitment ongoing to further grow its work.
The firm – which has won national recognition for its work helping former sub-postmasters overturn convictions related to the Post Office Horizon Scandal – now has 30 legal specialists based from its Manchester ‘operational hub’.
Work levels are already outperforming those Hudgells had through its London-based office, which it sold last year after eight years operating in the capital.
“Moving into Manchester has been a huge success and it’s fair to say that we have established a strong reputation across the North West as a result of our work and the cases we have been instructed on,” said Paul McClorry, associate solicitor and Head of Travel Litigation in Manchester.
“I was the first solicitor based in Manchester and the focus initially was to establish and grow a dedicated travel litigation team to represent people seriously injured abroad. We had ambitions to grow our work and profile, but we didn’t expect it to happen so quickly and across so many work areas.
“The travel department has grown steadily to now represent hundreds of clients, and over the past two years we have expanded to add each of the other core business areas we also operate from our headquarters in Hull.
“To do that during a pandemic has been some achievement. It also shows the gap we believed was in the market for a new entrant into the North West back in 2018 was there, and we are finding that demand increasing, hence why we continuing to recruit now.”
Hudgells has been a leader in representation of victims of Manchester Arena bombing
A big influencing factor on Hudgells’ growth in Manchester has been its work on the Manchester Arena bombing case, as it has been instructed not only to represent the families of victims at the Public Inquiry, but also by approximately 130 injured survivors of the 2017 terrorist attack.
It is a case for which a highly-experienced team was specifically established, led by Terry Wilcox, a solicitor with almost 40 years’ experience and who represented the Hillsborough families at the second inquest.
Mr McClorry is working alongside chief executive Rachel Di Clemente, who has also taken a hands-on role herself in supporting survivors and managing communications with them and other groups of lawyers and their clients.
Serious injury specialists Sarah Patten, who worked at Minster Law for close to eight years and previously for Slater & Gordon, and Kerry Gillespie, formerly of Irwin Mitchell, were also recruited, each bringing experience of working at leading legal firms and managing many highly-complex and high value claims.
Also recruited into the Manchester team in recent times have been clinical negligence specialists Caroline Murgatroyd and Abigail Frudd, both who have previously worked for Hudgells and are now part of an eight-strong clinical negligence department.
“We have focussed on developing teams in each of our key work areas and we have been delighted with the level of experience and legal talent we have been able to attract. We’ve built a team with decades of experience in serious personal injury and clinical negligence claims in particular,” said Mrs Di Clemente.
“It has been really pleasing to see the work levels and staff numbers in Manchester outgrow that we achieved in London in such a short space of time, vindicating our decision last year to place a focus back on our roots in Hull, and on expansion in the north.”
Hudgells’ successful cases have brought national media coverage
The work of the Manchester civil liberties team has resulted in media headlines in recent weeks as it has successfully brought cases against Greater Manchester Police in two cases involving the force’s handling of reports from women of being sexually assaulted and raped.
The travel department recently secured a High Court ruling in favour of a client who suffered a life-changing brain injury when involved in an accident at a motorcycling ‘track day’ experience in Spain. The judgement will pave the way for a significant six-figure damages settlement and interim payments before final settlement for the man and his family to help with care costs and home adaptations.
Hudgell Solicitors is Legal 500 ranked ‘Leading Firm’ and has been named in the Times ‘Best 200 Law Firms’ list in 2021 and 2022.