Irwin Mitchell Court Of Protection Division Expands Staff and Services

By Helen MacGregor

Irwin Mitchell Bristol’s Court of Protection (COP) legal team is celebrating the end of the financial year and say plans for the next 12 months will match the great successes achieved that saw them grow to become the largest COP offering in the South West specialising in managing personal injury damages.

Irwin Mitchell is now the only law firm in the top tier across the whole of the UK for Court of Protection work as ranked by the independent Chambers Directory and the Legal 500.

The Court of Protection team manage settlements for clients who are unable to manage money themselves after suffering a head injury though serious injury or medical negligence. It ensures funds are used to help with specialist rehabilitation, support and necessary adaptations to an individual’s home.

The South West expansion, led by Partner and COP specialist Michael Knott who’s from Bath, reflects Irwin Mitchell’s commitment to being a full service law firm that can help clients with all areas of their claim.

Two new appointments have now expanded the team further with Kate Gould joining the team as a Paralegal in March and Virginia Charlesworth joining to boost the administration team.

They join Charlotte Prew, who Irwin Mitchell Bristol appointed as a COP solicitor shortly after it opened in May 2010 has recently been promoted to an Associate, reflecting her passion and commitment to getting the best results for her clients. 

Solicitor Louisa Chadwick was also appointed at the end of 2012 from a national firm where she specialised in COP work to further strengthen the team.

Michael Knott, Irwin Mitchell Partner, said: “The past 12 months have seen Irwin Mitchell’s Court of Protection team in Bristol go from strength to strength. Other law firms trust and appreciate the excellent service we provide and regularly refer their clients to us when they cannot offer a COP service.

“The Court of Protection is having a higher profile in raising the standard of scrutiny for avoiding health and social care and financial abuse of vulnerable people who lack the capacity to make a decision – so it is vital that the teams appointed to make decisions on behalf of others are well respected.

“We’re delighted with the expert team we have established and looking forward to further planned growth.  We’re now looking forward to another busy and successful financial year that we hope will see us remain ranked as the number 1 firm throughout the UK for COP services.”

Nationally there are 72 members staff in the COP team with around 1400 ongoing cases.

Over the past year the team has regularly taken on many cases with settlement values in excess of £10 million. These settlements are carefully calculated and the job of the team is ensure that this provides the lifetime of care and support as well as pay for the necessary equipment the clients need.

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Court of Protection services