Irwin Mitchell Birmingham

Irwin Mitchell's has retained its position at the top of the Midlands' legal community after again being rated number one in a range of legal services by the leading law industry publication, the Legal 500.

The leading national firm's Birmingham office is rated top for its work for clients in Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Family and Travel law in the latest tables published by the Legal 500 – the same position it held in last year's ratings.

The news comes just months after Irwin Mitchell expanded its highly regarded Business and Private Client practice with the acquisition of a 10-strong team, including three Partners, from rival firm BPE.

Stuart Henderson, Regional Managing Partner for Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham, said: "We are delighted that this prestigious guide has recognised the continued expertise of our growing Birmingham office in the range of legal services it provides.  It is good to know that our commitment to our clients and putting their interests first is one of the reasons we have retained the top spot in the Legal 500 in a number of areas.

"This year has seen us increase the range of our legal services to the business community as noted in the Legal 500 to ensure we continue to be well positioned to support our business clients through the current recession and through to the inevitable economic recovery that will hopefully soon become a reality."

Irwin Mitchell's Family Law practice, which delivers expertise on both a national and international basis, has a 'great team' led by Kevin Harris-James, whom the Legal 500 describes as a 'tough negotiator and a fearless litigator'. It said the practice is very well liked by clients and provides an excellent collaborative law service, acting for high profile sports and entertainment clients.

The guide also highlights the high profile cases handled by Irwin Mitchell, the largest Personal Injury practice in the UK, in a number of areas, with the Clinical Negligence team in the Midlands providing 'good client care' and the guide recommending the 'very capable' Jonathan Peacock and 'particularly talented' Sara Burns.

The Personal Injury team, praised for showing 'great sympathy', remains top tier for claimant work.  Stuart Henderson, a specialist in head and spinal cord injuries, 'knows his stuff' and provides the lead. Jonathan Peacock is recommended again with recognition of his work consolidating the development of a specialist team dealing with child abuse litigation. 

Also recommended are workplace illness head, Alida Coates, who is 'always able to answer questions quickly', and travel litigation specialist, Katherine Allen, about whom clients say she takes 'great delight in helping us'. 

Irwin Mitchell’s strong contentious transport group, that specialises in transport litigation claims, was awarded the number one spot for the second year running. Headed by Clive Garner, the team recovered several million pounds of damages over the past year for clients including those affected by international coach crashes.

In Employment, the firm retains its ranking with Fergal Dowling and his team handling a significant amount of tribunal and trade union work and representing a number of high-net-worth individuals in severance arrangements.

The Birmingham-based Health and Safety (now known as Regulatory Investigation and Enforcement) team also retains its ranking. David Egan 'knows what he is doing and how the regulator operates' and the team's expertise has seen it instructed by a leading global property management company to provide environmental and safety advice.

Irwin Mitchell has represented clients in a number of high profile actions including that of an IVF couple whose embryo was wrongly transplanted into another patient by a Cardiff IVF clinic. The firm's international travel litigation team is currently acting on behalf of more than 700 British holidaymakers who, over a five year period, became seriously ill at the same hotel in Turkey.