Personal injury: defendant

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
James Harvey
Hall of fameClyde & Co
James is a partner and heads up the BLM Broker and Corporate Sector Groups.He specialises in employers' liability, public liability and motor with significant experience of acting for clients in a number of sectors to include facilities services, retail, leisure, manufacturing and construction.His clients include major PLCs as well as composite insurance companies.James leads BLM's relationship with Airmic and BIBA and is a member of BLM's Executive Board.
Derek Adamson
Hall of fameDWF
Partner // Head of Occupational Health and Casualty Birmingham
Lorraine Carolan
Hall of fameDWF
Partner // Global Head of Counter Fraud & Complex Motor Volume
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Henry Bermingham
Weightmans LLP
   Henry is a public sector specialist with over 20 years' experience in advising public sector bodies.  He specialises in social care claims, highways, human rights, occupiers' liability, employers' liability, stress, public rights of way and 'power and duty' cases. His work includes recovery of indemnities under outsource contracts and contributions from abusers. With particular experience in CSE (Child sexual exploitation), he is used to 'press cases' and is media trained.  Chambers & Partners describes Henry as "an experienced personal injury solicitor with comprehensive knowledge of litigation concerning public sector bodies", while The Legal 500 notes that he is known for "his expertise in social care work involving historic abuse and deprivation of liberty".  He was President of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) in 2008. He is an active contributor to ALARM, speaks and writes regularly on public sector issues.  Notable cases: CGH v K (a school) 2005, Claims arising from CSE Operations (2008-2015), The Employers' Liability Trigger Litigation (2012 UKSC-14), The Midlands Section. 20 Litigation.
Kevin Lawson
Browne Jacobson LLP
Kevin advises upon complex and catastrophic injury claims across EL, PL and motor with an emphasis on high value claims. He has numerous claims valued between £5-£10m. He has particular expertise in the areas of sport, equine and leisure having advised governing bodies and individuals in areas of motorsport, archery, golf, tennis, judo, triathlon, horse riding, climbing and karting. Kevin’s support is often requested within days of a major incident occurring, working alongside insurers and their customers to proactively resolve a claim in a collaborative and cost effective way, whilst reducing settlement times and indemnity costs. Brand and reputation are key areas he pays particular attention to. Kevin has particular expertise in rehabilitation support for those seriously injured. He has advised over 40 case managers on rehabilitation excellence this year. Kevin also provides a wider advisory role to clients, encompassing provision of risk management advice to avoid incidents. Beyond direct claims management, Kevin leads the commercial insurance casualty strategy for the firm, and is deputy head of the Insurance Sector. This includes delivery of client facing training, advice on operational change to streamline efficiency, market intelligence and product innovation. Kevin’s key clients include Hiscox, The LTA, The PGA and Marble Arch.
Bridget Tatham
Browne Jacobson LLP
Bridget is an EL/PL defence specialist with expertise in the management of bullying and stress at work claims. She is Head of the Birmingham casualty team, responsible for the management and development of our casualty offer, advising our local authority and commercial insurance clients on motor, public and employers’ liability, from policy coverage through to claims and risk. Bridget is responsible for the strategic direction of the firm’s public sector insurance division, working to set strategy for growth drawing on our strength in the public sector. In that capacity, Bridget heads Foil’s Public Sector Focus Team (“SFT”), and in the last 12 months has successfully reframed the scope of the SFT to reflect core services in the sector. Her “Claims Club” is the envy of rival firms and is now run out of our key offices, bringing law to life for local authority claims managers and risk and insurance officers. Bridget has been able to build a growing adult social care practice, dealing with claims from residential and nursing care home providers. She has a particular interest in dementia care.   These claims have significant reputational impact on the provider particularly where it is alleged the negligent treatment has resulted in the death of a resident. Bridget is also a key member of our commercial insurance strategic team and leads our cross-practice team dealing with the Inquiry, prosecution and compensation issues. Bridget is a Nominated Partner for the NHS Resolution Risk Pooling tranche of business.
David Tuck
Weightmans LLP
David is the head of service delivery for disease claims at Weightmans and has specialised in the defence of all types of occupationally induced disease claims for over 20 years. He specialises in occupational cancer and lung disease claims, especially all asbestos related conditions as well as asthma and work related upper limb disorders. David is instructed regularly by insurers, large corporates and public bodies as well as clients who have no insurance cover and advises clients on Transfer of Undertakings Regulations, corporate liability, associated risk management and policy issues. David has extensive experience in dealing with the transfer of liabilities arising from Local Government reorganisation and in the Further Education sector. He is regularly involved in seminars on these, as well as other aspects of disease litigation both internally and externally.
Mike Dobson
Clyde & Co
Mike is Head of the Large Loss and Technical Business Stream taking responsibility for the operational and technical excellence of this business unit. Within the business stream there are over 200 partners and lawyers handling cases of the utmost severity, value and complexity including Catastrophic and Large Loss Injury, Occupational Disease, Regulatory, Abuse and Travel litigation. Mike is a specialist Catastrophic Injury and Foreign Jurisdiction lawyer with over 25 years’ experience acting for insurance companies across Motor and Casualty claims. He has a personal caseload dealing with cases of the utmost severity involving serious brain injury, paraplegia, fatalities in the workplace, amputations and chronic pain handling claims across Jurisdictions. Mike’s is a leading expert in cross jurisdiction claims arising out of accidents abroad and has handled a range of cases for foreign insurers from France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Hungary. His role includes acting as a Client Relationship Partner advising and shaping insurers’ strategic response to the developing legal landscape.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Matthew Harpin
Browne Jacobson LLP
Matthew was promoted to partner from 1st May 2019 and has over 19 years' experience defending employers' and public liability claims and disease claims for a wide range of local authorities/commercial clients throughout the country. He is very highly regarded by his clients and regularly obtains trial wins, discontinuances and favourable results at JSM for them. He has secured a number of findings of fundamental dishonesty at trial for his clients. Matthew’s technical ability is matched by his understanding of his clients and their philosophy towards fighting claims. His notable reported cases include: McDaid v Walsall MBC (2018) Ryan v Hackney London Borough Council (2016) Millard v Walsall MBC (2014) Yew v Gloucestershire County Council (2013) Robson v Gloucestershire County Council (2013) Thorley v Vicarage Residential Care Home (2010) Matthew is described in: Legal 500 2017 as ‘knowledgeable on the law and gets to the heart of issues in a case; he has excellent perception as to which cases to fight’; Legal 500 2018 as ‘experienced in public and employer’s liability claims’; Legal 500 2019 as a ‘key figure’; and Legal 500 2020 as ‘well regarded’. Matthew regularly delivers training to his clients and has led on Browne Jacobson's highly regarded Highways Symposium attracting keynote speakers from the DfT and Road Liaison committee  
Verinder Bedi
Clyde & Co
Verinder is a partner and technical lead of the Birmingham Motor Team. In recent years, he has focused his practise on dealing with civil and criminal motor claims specializing in high value claims, credit hire and policy indemnity for a variety of insurer and corporate companies. He deals with large value multi track civil personal injury claims together with Magistrates Court offences. He often deals with six figure claims for credit hire, provides advices on a variety of credit hire related issues and regularly provide industry wide guidance and feedback. He provides advice on the cross-over between motor insurance policies and cases involving dual insurance issues. He has a speciality in dealing with RTA/Article 75/MIB claims.
David Thompson
Clyde & Co
David is a partner. David’s practice is focused on catastrophic injury and cross border litigation. He works with insurers, brokers, loss adjusters and corporate clients on claims within motor, employers’ liability, public liability and product liability risks. His caseload includes matters involving serious brain injury, spinal cord damage, amputation, chronic pain and fatalities. In respect of jurisdiction and conflict of laws disputes, David regularly advises clients as to the correct approach under Rome II, Brussels I (recast) and common law, and deals with complex issues involving foreign lawyers providing expert evidence to the court. He has experience in a wide range of industry sectors, including in particular leisure, aviation and construction. David acts for a nationwide broker scheme for businesses in the leisure industry, for which he has presented at a number of events on claims defensibility and claims trends analysis. He is a member of BLM’s Catastrophic Injury Amputation Subject Matter Group.
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.

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