Slater and Gordon

Hannah Saxe

Senior associate   I provide advice on all legal issues arising from relationship breakdown, including divorce, financial settlements and the arrangements for children.   One of my specialisms is resolving disputes about the arrangements for children, including cases involving: Relocation of children in the UK and overseas Allegations of abuse Parental alienation Fabricated or induced illness in children Children with additional needs such as autism Applications by grandparents Parents with drug and alcohol dependency. I also provide advice about surrogacy arrangements (in England and overseas), donor conception and co-parenting agreements, and adoption. I have specialist expertise when it comes to advising LGBT parents and parents-to-be.   I'm also experienced in advising co-habiting couples, both in terms of resolving issues relating to property and securing financial provision for children.   I act for clients with assets of all levels but I have particular expertise in dealing with cases where the family finances are complicated and high value and those with international elements.   My aim is always to try and help my clients come to a swift and fair agreement without going to court, whenever possible.  

John Davis

John has been representing clients who have suffered serious injuries, particularly those who have suffered life-changing neurological conditions, for over 30 years, and has considerable experience in the field of complex personal injury litigation. Clients are at the centre of what he does. He is fully committed to getting to know his clients and their needs and to obtaining funding at the earliest possible opportunity to ensure that they are able to receive the rehabilitation required to meet their life-long needs and to reach their best possible outcome and quality of life. During his career he has acted for hundreds of clients and helped to achieve awards of damages totalling over £200 million. In addition, John has also worked with a number of charities which support individuals who have sustained serious neurological injuries and in 2012 he was recognised for this work by being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Clients are at the centre of what he does. He is fully committed to getting to know his clients and their needs and to obtaining funding at the earliest possible opportunity to ensure that they are able to receive the rehabilitation required to meet their life-long needs and to reach their best possible outcome and quality of life. During his career he has acted for hundreds of clients and helped to achieve awards of damages totalling over £200 million. In addition, John has also worked with a number of charities which support individuals who have sustained serious neurological injuries and in 2012 he was recognised for this work by being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

John Lowther

John has over a decade of experience specialising in medical negligence claims and has a breadth of experience from handling a very varied case load. He has  a particular interest in complicated litigation, where the impact on the patient has been particularly severe and posses considerable experience acting on behalf of grieving families who have lost loved ones, those who have suffered whilst in prison and in claims arising from substandard practice including urology, paediatric, general surgery and orthopaedic departments. He has also worked on claims relating to treatment provided in public and private hospitals, care homes and by ambulance services, GPs and dentists and has represented clients in Inquests and at the County Court.

Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison is a Principal Lawyer and Head of Operations for the Abuse Department at Slater and Gordon. She acts for clients in civil claims against organisations and institutions where abuse has taken place including religious organisations, the Scouts, the military, the NHS, schools, care homes and sports clubs of all kinds. She has particular expertise in advising clients in suing in both negligence and human rights for ‘failure to protect’ cases representing children in cases against Local Authorities. She has acted for a large number of clients abused by the football coach Barry Bennell. Alongside her civil work she has also developed significant Inquiries and Inquests expertise, having advised and represented clients at a number of Article 2 Inquests and also in the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Manchester Arena Bombing Public Inquiry and the COVID-19 Public inquiry.

Lorraine Harvey

Principal Lawyer

Madelene Holdsworth

Madelene is a principal lawyer and head of the industrial disease team, the travel litigation team and the military injuries team. Madelene specialises in claims for compensation for victims and their families of asbestos related diseases, chemical poisonings, occupational asthma, noise induced hearing loss as well as workplace accidents.She also specialises in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning cases which is an extremely unique area of law. It is highly unlikely that there is another lawyer in the country who has as much expertise in these types of cases. She has been involved in, and continues to get instructed on, high profile CO cases including CO fatalities.

Matthew Tomlinson

Matthew is Principal Lawyer based at our Manchester office. Matthew specialises in work accident compensation claims and acts solely for injured claimants. Matthew has specialised in personal injury for many years, with specific expertise in accidents at work, road traffic collisions and occupiers’ liability/public liability. Matthew also delivers an annual programme of in-house training to lawyers on procedure, liability and assessment of quantum. His expertise has helped claimants secure substantial compensation payments and rehabilitation for a range of devastating accidents, many resulting in fatal or serious life changing injuries including amputations and chronic pain. Matthew regularly speaks at health and safety conferences and provides bespoke lectures on issues involving safety within the workplace. He also manages relationships with a number of the Organisation and Member Services who work with Slater and Gordon.

Nicola Rostron

Senior Associate

Paul Reddy

Paul is the head of the criminal team for the north of England and is a criminal and road traffic defence solicito and practice group leader within the national team at Slater and Gordon Lawyers. Paul’s expertise lies in the defence of road traffic offences and has specialised in this field for over 10 years.  Whilst this is his primary area of work, Paul remains active in defending allegations of serious general crime and professional discipline and is often instructed by legal expense insurers and the Police Federation. He has successfully represented a number of high-profile clients. He has represented clients from the police station to the Crown Court.  

Pauline Chandler

Pauline is a Principal Lawyer at Slater and Gordon in Manchester. She has specialised in industrial accident and disease claims for more than 40 years.During her career she has helped thousands of clients recover compensation for mesothelioma, asbestos and other industrial diseases.These have included bladder cancer from chemicals, nasal cancer from wood dust and other skin and lung diseases caused by chemicals and irritant dusts at work.Pauline has pursued some high profile and important and ground-breaking industrial disease cases, such as Knox & Others-v-Cammell Laird known as the "Welders Lung" case and several other Court of Appeal cases that have changed the law for asbestos victims and are frequently relied on and referred to as precedents in other disease claim judgements. Such judgements include: Owen-v-IMI Yorkshire Copper Tube; Jeromson-v-Shell Tankers; Furness-v-Massey; McCamley-v-Cammel Laird; Johnson-v-Reed Corrugated Cases; Sabin-v-British Rail; Cookson-v-Novartis Grimsby; and Spillett-v-Carillion.In addition she has successfully pursued numerous nasal cancer and asbestos cases that other solicitors abandoned because they could not find the relevant employers’ liability insurers.

Richard Scorer

Richard is a Principal Lawyer and Head of Abuse Law and Public Inquiries. He has many years’ experience dealing with serious injury and child abuse cases, acting for victims in high profile cases such as Jimmy Savile, the child sexual exploitation scandal in Rochdale, John Worboys and the football abuse cases. He has particular expertise in cases involving abuse in religious organisations such as the Catholic Church, the Church of England, mosques and gurdwaras. He acted for a large number of victims and survivors in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), has taken cases to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, and has achieved many landmark settlements. Richard writes and lectures widely on abuse law and public inquiries and is a regular media commentator. Richard’s book ‘Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis’ was published in 2014. He also co-authored the APIL Guide to Child Abuse Compensation Claims, third edition published in 2020. He was a Chapter contributor to Justice for Children: A developmental approach published by Royal College of Psychiatrists/CUP in 2019. In addition to his legal work he holds a visiting research fellowship at the University of Kent, where he leads an international review of legal and policy responses to abuse in religious settings. Richard wrote the book ‘Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis’ which was published in 2014. He also co-authored the APIL Guide to Child Abuse Compensation Claims published in 2011. Chapter contributor to Justice for Children: A developmental approach published by Royal College of Psychiatrists/CUP in 2019.

Richard Black

Principal lawyer, criminal and misconduct. Salaried principal lawyer January 2010. Solicitor, admitted 1993. Criminal litigation (defence), coroners court, police disciplinary.

Sadiq Vohra

Sadiq is a senior employment lawyer and practice group leader at Slater and Gordon Lawyers. He leads the employment team in Manchester. He specialises in advising on employment law for a range of employees, including senior executives, on a wide range of workplace issues including grievances, disciplinary issues, severance packages, discrimination and unfair dismissal. Sadiq also has extensive experience advising on collective issues including conducting group litigation. Sadiq speaks Gujarati and some Hindi/Urdu and regularly comments on employment law matters in the media including BBC Radio.

Sarah Thompson

Principal lawyer, specialising in family and matrimonial law. Extensive caseload of mid-range to high-net-worth clients. Dealing almost exclusively with sorting out the finances for divorcing and unmarried couples. Recent and current cases include: advising CEO of multinational airline company in relation to jurisdictional issues, child maintenance when CMS does not have jurisdiction and overall financial settlement, advising client on application to set aside due to ex-spouse’s non-disclosure and application to vary maintenance in case where asset base in excess of £35m, advising client who has several foreign properties, a family business and complex pension issues, advising client in relation to unmarried property where ex-partner seeking to rely on purported variation of declaration of trust.  As a former expat herself, Sarah has particular interest in acting for clients who live abroad. She currently handles a variety of such cases, and also deals with jurisdictional issues in cases where there is a dispute as to which country should deal with the divorce. In 2011, Sarah set up Slater and Gordon family mediation. She receives referrals from Manchester solicitors such as Mills & Reeve, JMW and Elizabeth Hassall Family Law as well as individuals referring themselves to mediation. As a trained collaborative lawyer, Sarah regularly conducts four way meetings on behalf of clients. Sarah is the vice chair of the Manchester DR Group.

Stephen Goodman

Senior Associate