Birmingham Office Enjoys Success

Law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham office’s impressive growth has been reflected with more recommendations and rankings than ever in the Legal 500; an independent guide to law published this week.

Irwin Mitchell is rated as a top tier practice for Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Family and Travel law in the latest tables published by the Legal 500.

The growing firm has also been ranked for the first time in four other areas of law, Corporate and Commercial, Dispute Resolution, Insolvency and Corporate Recovery and Planning. The firm has also won the Rehabilitation Initiative of the Year award for the third year in a row.

Stuart Henderson, Regional Managing Partner for Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham, said: "We are delighted that this prestigious guide has recognised the continued and growing expertise of our Birmingham office.

"It is testament to the commitment we have in putting our clients' interests first that we have retained the top spot in the Legal 500 in a number of areas.

"Over the past couple of years we have increased the range of our legal services to the business community and it is very pleasing that the hard work of the team is being recognised with several new recommendations in the guide."

Stuart Henderson leads the Personal Injury team at Irwin Mitchell which continues to be "pre-eminent in the West Midlands". The team has particular expertise in neurotrauma, catastrophic injury and asbestos disease cases. Alida Coates and Philip Edwards were named and described as "passionate and skilled". The first-class team secured a six-figure settlement for the estate of a man eight years after his death from mesothelioma.

Irwin Mitchell's clinical negligence department was again the leading team in the region with the "excellent" Lisa Jordan heading the team; Sara Burns and Mandy Luckman were also recommended for their thorough and hard work for their clients.

The highly specialised team has been involved in some groundbreaking work, such as acting for a couple whose last remaining viable embryo was wrongly implanted into another patient.

The family team, headed up by Nicola Walker, retained its number one ranking once again. The team was praised for its international work in particular.

The large travel team at Irwin Mitchell, led by Clive Garner, also retained the top spot. The firm has an enviable reputation with growth areas including serious injury and fatal claims arising from road traffic, coach and aviation crashes and group action illness claims. Irwin Mitchell also advised on the Bulgarian coach crash case, in which liability was established against TUI UK at trial on behalf of 24 claimants.

The business side of the firm has continued to grow led by Fergal Dowling who is appreciated as someone who "doesn't believe in wasting clients' money".

Dowling also heads the busy employment team at Irwin Mitchell providing a premium service advising mainly owner-managed businesses and SMEs, in the Midlands and nationally.

In the Health and Safety sector David Egan is recommended for providing professional, in-depth advice and support. The practice includes non-contentious health and safety and environmental matters.

Paul Wakefield is recommended for developing the corporate offer which was ranked for the first time. Also ranked for the first time is the Commercial Litigation team, headed up by Mark Elder, which the guide says is "well regarded, and advises on a broad range of issues from supply chain disputes to IT disputes".

The Insolvency practice led by Andrew Taylor receives many plaudits from clients, and 'resolves difficult and complex issues promptly and efficiently'.

Recent addition to Irwin Mitchell, Oliver Martin is also recommended for his work in Planning Law.