Slater and Gordon

Andrew Zajac

Andrew is a Principal Lawyer at Slater and Gordon in Cambridge. He specialises in serious injuries such as brain injury and orthopaedic injury. Andrew is known for delivering clear legal advice in a way that clients understand and goes above and beyond expectations to provide exceptional client care and demonstrates outstanding attention to detail. Case successes include six-figure awards of compensation for two clients who sustained serious orthopaedic injury (one of which sustained a complicated psychological injury involving pain syndrome) and a seven-figure settlement on a complex brain injury cases in which liability was contested. Clients describe him as “an excellent lawyer" and approachable and helpful.”

Angela Beric

Angela is a Principal Lawyer at Slater and Gordon in Cambridge. She specialises in serious injury claims with a particular emphasis on child brain injury claims. She is a strong advocate of rehabilitation and care packages funded by the defendants under the Rehabilitation Code. When that is not possible, she always tries to obtain the maximum interim payment to help meet the immediate and ongoing needs of her clients. She is an outstanding lawyer whose calm, sympathetic and reassuring manner makes clients with serious injuries know they are in good hands.

Doreen Reeves

Doreen is an senior associate solicitor in the employment law department at Slater and Gordon in London. Doreen has specialised in employment spanning over two decades, and joined Slater and Gordon in 2016. Her experience covers the full range of employment law, including discrimination and harassment, unfair and wrongful dismissal, and whistleblowing. She regularly advises on post termination restrictive covenants, share options, contract reviews, interim injunction, bonus and contractual disputes and has represented clients in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. She acts for senior executives within the financial services, bankers, regulated professionals, HR professionals, solicitors, healthcare professionals, NHS consultants, and directors across various sectors in media, IT, marketing, education and central and local Government. Doreen is a strategic, pragmatic and highly technical lawyer and litigator who achieves the best outcome for her clients. As a skilled negotiator, she has successfully resolved workplace disputes resulting in high value and confidential settlements and exit packages. Doreen has managed complex and multiple claims up to millions of pounds and has led the national employment law service for the RMT, Unite and CWU union where I handled high profile litigation cases in the national media. She appeared as a speaker on the BBC and more recently on Sky News discussing equal pay and has also provided legal comments in the national press.

Edmund Young

Edmund is a Principal Lawyer specialising as Head of Industrial Disease for London at Slater and Gordon. He is an expert in handling all types of industrial disease claims, particularly those relating to asbestos and employers’ liability. He leads a team of Industrial disease lawyers. As such he is a frequent attendee at the asbestos sub-parliamentary committee of the House of Commons, which debates on all issues concerning asbestos led campaigns. He is also a staunch supporter of asbestos led campaigns such as Asbestos in Schools and the HSE Hidden Killer campaign. Edmund takes on challenging cases and has gone to the Court of Appeal on a number of occasions.  He is very experienced in handling significant injury claims  and has previously represented a number of trade unions and their members.  He is renowned for his forensic approach to litigation and strives to achieve the best outcomes for his clients.

Edward Cooper

Edward is Head of Practice in the employment department at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, heading up the team servicing trade unions and staff associations and their members.. Edward specialises in all aspects of employment law, as well as advising on the “corporate” needs of  trades unions/staff associations. His experience has a particular emphasis on collective and policy matters; including trade union and industrial law, as well as pensions, public law and human rights-related employment issues. Edward has advised on the rules and procedures governing numerous trade unions and has wide experience in advising trade unions on mergers, Certification Officer complaints, internal disputes and industrial action issues. He has conducted numerous judicial review applications relating to public sector employment rights issues, and acted for a wide range of individual workers in a wide range of industries. More recently, he has acted in a number of professional negligence claims arising from the previous handling of their employment disputes by other solicitors and advisers, and advised on the implications  of GDPR for trade unions

Emma Doughty

Emma is a principal lawyer and was promoted to Joint Head of the Clinical Negligence Department for London and Cambridge in April 2017. Emma is an experienced litigation solicitor specialising in clinical negligence claims. As a skilled advocate, she has trained for and was recently awarded by the Law Society the Higher Rights of Audience qualification in June 2016, making her a Solicitor-Advocate. During her career Emma has dealt with a wide variety of complex and high value claims. These have included securing compensation for clients who have suffered as the result of delays in diagnosis of cancer and other illnesses, amputation cases and injuries during birth and during labour. Emma has developed a specialism in claims concerning delays in diagnosis of cancer and more specifically in breast cancer. She is currently one of the two Lead Solicitors running the group action against Ian Paterson (the former breast surgeon from Birmingham who has been convicted of performing negligent and inappropriate surgeries. Emma was mentioned in the Lawyers Top 20 Cases in January 2017 for her role.

Georgina Chase

Georgina is the Head of the Family Practice specialising in all aspects of family law, in particular financial settlements on divorce; including those involving businesses, trusts, high value pensions and foreign property.  She is also experienced in cohabitation disputes, nuptial agreements and dissolutions of civil partnerships.  Georgina has extensive knowledge of Children Act Proceedings and regularly advises on arrangements for children post separation.  

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.  

Jayne Campbell

Jayne is a personal injury solicitor at Slater and Gordon in Birmingham. She has 15 years’ experience successfully pursuing personal injury claims on behalf of accident victims. During her career she has worked on claims arising as a result of road traffic accidents, travel abroad, accidents in public places and those concerning occupier's liability. She also boasts expertise handling cases involving accidents at work, clinical negligence, housing disrepair and defective products. She specialises in claims involving serious injury and significant loss.

John Marshall

Principal lawyer, employment. John’s practice encompasses all aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious. His practice includes High Court litigation concerning the enforcement of restrictive covenants, interpretation of contractual claims, implied terms, penalty clauses and the assessment of damages. Employment Tribunal claims featuring complicated City whistleblowing claims and discrimination claims are a regular feature of the work he undertakes. John also regularly advises directors and senior corporate officers on boardroom disputes and their service agreements and benefits, and partners and members of LLPs on all aspects of their joining, leaving and disputes arising. John also advises extensively those who are FCA authorised; on the regulatory side of their employment or FCA enforcement action against them.

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.

Laura Preston

Laura is a senior associate and team leader in the medical negligence team at Slater and Gordon in London. She manages and supervises 7 staff and handles cases involving all aspects of medical negligence (including birth injury for mother and baby, spinal injury, surgical injury, orthopaedic injury, missed or delayed diagnosis, failure to treat and fatal accident cases including inquests) on behalf of injured patients and their families and has focused solely on this practice area since 2008.   Laura has particular experience in spinal injury and delay in diagnosis claims. She has successfully run several cases relating to faulty medical products including failed hip implants and pharmaceutical products. Laura has worked on two large group litigation cases: the Fetal Anti-convulsant Litigation and most recently as Deputy Lead Solicitor on the ground-breaking and successful litigation against negligent breast surgeon, Mr Ian Paterson, which settled for £37 million.  The settlement was approved by the Court, allowing hundreds of claimants (treated Privately by Mr Paterson). This case has brought the issue of Private sector regulation and patient safety to the forefront of media attention and a public inquiry is being undertaken as a result.

Laura Thompson

As a Senior Associate in the employment team at Slater and Gordon in London, Laura deals with a range of cases on behalf of trade union clients. Due to her experience, Laura is able to provide advice and expert representation in all areas of employment law, including discrimination, contractual disputes, equal pay, pension loss, redundancy, TUPE, unfair and wrongful and constructive dismissal, wages claims, group claims and whistleblowing. She also has experience of advising on internal grievance and disciplinary proceedings, alternative dispute resolution and settlement agreements. Laura was honoured to be sponsored through the College of Law by the Independent Newspaper after winning a scholarship essay prize in 2000. She also acted for the Lord Chancellor during UNISON’s challenge to employment tribunal fees in the Administrative Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Laura  advised the Department for Education and the Northern Ireland Office as Government lawyer, and has acted in a range of employment tribunal cases for the Ministry of Justice, Home Office and the London Fire Brigade.

Lisa Fountain

Lisa is a Principal Lawyer in Slater and Gordon’s personal injury team in London. Lisa specialises in employers’ liability claims, road traffic accidents and occupiers liability claims. She is very experienced in handling cases involving spinal injury, brain injury, serious orthopaedic injury and disfigurement cases. Her other litigation interests include product liability and fatal accident claims.

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.

Michael Knott

Michael is a principal lawyer and leader. He is an experienced in multi-site fee earner and service line team management across UK delivering specialist advice to clients and technical support to other lawyers and stakeholders. He is experienced in management of private and institutional legal services; operational and strategic planning, management and delivery, finance and budgeting, financial governance, risk management, due diligence, people and relationships.

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.  

Paul Tapner

Paul is a Principal Lawyer at Slater and Gordon’s offices in Cambridge and Manchester, and specialises in in serious injury cases including spinal injuries, head injuries, amputation injuries and fatal injury claims. Paul is part of a high quality team of serious injury solicitors who fight complex, difficult cases that most other lawyers wouldn’t touch. Paul excels in creative thinking, always looking to push the boundaries of what can and can’t be claimed. Paul gives clear and incisive second opinions on cases handled by other lawyers.

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.

Peter Daly

Peter is a Principal Employment Lawyer based in London.  He specialises in all areas of employment law, with a particular expertise in whistleblowing and discrimination claims.  Peter has acted in a string of high profile litigation cases in recent years: he acted for Shahmir Sanni, who brought attention to EU referendum voting irregularities.  He acted for Maria Bamieh as far as the Court of Appeal in her litigation arising from allegations of corruption at Kosovo’s European Union Rule of Law Mission.  He acted for Mr Greg Pytel in his claim against OFGEM in which the EAT found that aspects of the legislatory regime covering the utilities sector infringed the European Convention on Human Rights.  His case on behalf of Jordi Casamitjana Costa, which seeks to recognise ethical veganism as a protected philosophical belief, attracted news coverage around the globe.  Peter is also an adept negotiator, who specialises in settling complex cases without the need for litigation.  He has a particular expertise around the NHS.

Richard Gaffney

Richard is a Principal Lawyer in the personal injury team at Slater and Gordon’s offices in Cambridge. He specialises in claims involving catastrophic and serious injuries. Richard has significant experience in claims involving head injury, multiple orthopaedic, amputation and fatal accident claims. He spent 10 years in the armed forces before becoming a lawyer so has particular experience in dealing with military accident claims. Richard is also Slater & Gordon’s principal lawyer for Cycling UK, the UK’s national cycling charity.

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.

Scott Ingram

Scott is a Criminal Defence Lawyer based in London, specialising in crime, professional misconduct and inquests.  Regularly involved in high profile cases.  Acknowledged expert in police shooting cases - represented police firearms officers in the Jean Charles de Menezes, Mark Duggan and Azelle Rodney shooting cases - July 2015 sucessfully defended the officer at his trial for murder.  Advised the officers in the investigation following the police response to the Westminster and Borough Market terrorist attacks in 2017.  Currently representing officer W80 in disciplinary proceedings following the shooting of Jermaine Baker in 2015 and clients in inquests into deaths of Duncan Tomlin in 2014 and Leroy Medford in 2017.  Scott lectures on post incident procedures in death or serious injury investigations.  He is an expert  in police disciplinary proceedings and coroners' inquests and has been involved in the Judical Review proceedings on the controversial issues of anonymity and self-defence.

Stephen Goodman

Senior Associate

Tracey Benson

Tracey is a Principal Lawyer and Head of the Serious Injury department in the South of England. Tracey has extensive experience surrounding all types of workplace accidents but handles all types of serious injury cases including road traffic collisions, public liability and sporting accidents. She also deals with fatal accidents. She has an interest in sports injuries and has handled notable cases on behalf of professional footballers and other sporting accidents which have attracted media coverage. She’s been instructed by the Professional Footballers Association to represent their members. She represents clients with severe acquired brain injuries, spinal injuries, injuries resulting in amputation (both traumatic and elective), severe burns and other multiple injuries and psychiatric injuries. She also undertakes pro bono work mostly relating to Inquest representation. Tracey regularly appears on the radio and television. She’s appeared on Good Morning Britain, BBC news, London Live and regularly appear on national radio stations. Many of her settlements have reached the national press. She has a reputation as a keen litigator and has a number of articles published in the legal press.

Victoria Gofton

Victoria is Joint Head of Medical Negligence for London and Cambridge. She is a highly-regarded and respected litigator with more than 13 years’ experience handling a multitude of different cases including traumatic brain injury, spinal injuries as a result of surgery, amputation, anaesthetic awareness, misdiagnosis of cancer and birth injury claims. Victoria has acted in a range of cases involving those against GP’s and hospitals.  She sensitively handles claims involving fatalities of loved ones and cases involving foreign doctors practicing in this jurisdiction.  Her most challenging case to date settled for just under £6 million and her current caseload consists of cases of a similar high value and with technical legal arguments.  Victoria is prepared to take on cases that are complex and challenging. She believes justice should be available for all, especially those that have been devastated after sustaining a serious injury. She understands that this situation not only changes the injured person's life but also has a huge impact on their family and friends.

Will Cornwell

Will is a senior associate in our serious personal injury team in London with specific expertise in brain and spinal cord injuries, and the bereaved families of those who have been fatally injured. Will leads a team specialising in claims arising from road traffic accidents and is not afraid to take on the most challenging of cases. Over the years he has secured a great many substantial settlements in complex, often split-liability road traffic accident claims. Having represented a wide range of clients who have sustained life-changing injuries, Will is well attuned to the profound impact that such injuries have on his clients and their families. How the legal process can support his clients in the important process of rehabilitation is always at the forefront of his mind and facilitating rehabilitation is a core objective of his work. As well as representing his clients, Will has been instrumental in organising and ensuring the delivery of legal training within the London office of the firm. He has co-authored a number of training seminars and workshops for serious injury lawyers and has delivered training externally on subjects such as the role of the personal injury lawyer; road traffic accident reconstruction; and the interplay between the litigation process and rehabilitation.