Head of Personal Injury Praises ‘Fantastic Achievement’

Four senior lawyers from Irwin Mitchell are celebrating after being among the first in the country to receive official approval by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) to become accredited as Specialist Brain Injury Lawyers and assessors of the new APIL brain injury specialist accreditation scheme.

Colin Ettinger, Head of Personal Injury and Amanda Stevens,  Partners at Irwin Mitchell’s London office; Philip Edwards, Partner and Head of Serious Injury in Birmingham and Jo Darlington, Associate and Head of Serious Injury in Bristol, have all been recognised for their dedication to helping those who have suffered life-changing brain injuries.

APIL accreditation provides a quality mark of competence and specialist expertise for solicitors and barristers dealing with personal injury claims which helps those looking for legal help to recognise expertise within the profession.

The four serious injury specialists from Irwin Mitchell will assess professionals, within and outside the firm, who are requesting accreditation with APIL in the field of brain injury.

To be accepted the four from Irwin Mitchell, who are all long-standing members and supporters of APIL, had to demonstrate significant experience in the field of brain injury work, not only through case related work, but also in commitment generally through external teaching to both lawyers and other professionals in the brain injury field, and also through any publications they have produced.

Stuart Henderson, Managing Partner of Personal Injury at Irwin Mitchell, said: “This recognition is testament to the experience, dedication and innovation of the serious injury team at Irwin Mitchell.

“Each of the four demonstrated their expertise in handling brain injury cases, experience in supervising teams and assessing performance and their commitment to the brain injury community through teaching and involvement with brain injury support services.

“It is a great achievement and I have no doubt each of them will take the role seriously and do their utmost to be fair, impartial and strong ambassadors for APIL as it strives to protect the rights of the injured people at a time when their access to justice is under threat.”

Philip Edwards, who has been a member of APIL for over 15 years and a previous West Midlands Co-ordinator, said: “I am extremely proud to have been selected by APIL to become one of the first Accredited Brain Injury Specialists and new assessors of the accreditation scheme.

“At Irwin Mitchell we aim to provide an unrivalled level of support to those who have suffered a brain injury, gaining clients access to the best possible rehabilitation and care services to assist in their recovery and to provide the best quality of life.

“I look forward to offering help and guidance from my experience in this field to those who are hoping to become accredited by the claimant lawyers’ leading association.”