Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence And Family Receive Excellent Ratings

27/10/2011

The impressive growth of law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Bristol office has been officially recognised with new rankings in Chambers UK: A Client’s Guide to the UK Legal Profession.

The firm, which opened its Bristol office in May last year, received excellent ratings for its Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Family practice areas in the latest annual guide which independently evaluates and ranks the nation’s law firms.

Jonathan Peacock, Regional Managing Partner for Irwin Mitchell in Bristol, said: "We are delighted that this prestigious legal guide has recognised the rapid rise and growing expertise of our Bristol office.

“It is testament to our commitment to putting our clients’ interests first that we have been ranked highly in Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Family practice areas by Chambers UK after only one full year of operations from our new Bristol office. It is testament to the hard work of the Bristol team to be officially recognised in this way.”

Jonathan Peacock, who has particular expertise in complex cases involving neurological injury, is recognised by Chambers UK as having a ‘remarkable track record’ and for his ‘very dynamic’ handling of personal injury and clinical negligence matters. The personal injury team received excellent client feedback and is said to be ‘very professional and sympathetic’ and ‘very knowledgeable in this particular field’.

Partner Julie Lewis, who heads Clinical Negligence and is an expert in complex paediatric cases, is valued for her ‘calm, methodical approach to problem solving’. The clinical negligence team have been recognised for their ‘diligent and conscientious’ practitioners, for whom ‘nothing is ever too much trouble’. The team’s client care was singled out for comment with client feedback stating that ‘they are excellent communicators and their customer care is first-rate’.

The Bristol office’s Head of Family, Alison Hawes is also singled out for special praise by Chambers UK because she ‘commands enormous loyalty from her clients’ and is ‘very good at delivering difficult messages tactfully and effectively’.

Since opening its Bristol office, with a pledge to offer an unrivalled level of legal service across Bristol and the South West, Irwin Mitchell has taken an additional 3,510 sq ft of office space in Bristol city centre’s Castle Park development to cope with increased demand for its services. In the past year it has also appointed seven additional solicitors and eight support staff.

Jonathan added: “Although we have already achieved so much here in Bristol in a little over a year, this is just the start, with much more to come in the future.

“We will continue to pioneer the development of our multi-disciplinary approach to injury litigation, but we don’t want to stop at that. We’re looking, in time, to build a full corporate and private client practice in Bristol – that is very much on the agenda here – and build on our already strong reputation for continuous improvement and professional excellence.

“We will also be looking to expand our role in the business and community life of the region as our recent short listing for Bristol Law Society’s Law Firm of the Year Award highlights.”