Browell Smith & Co Solicitors Ltd

Based in the North of England, Browell Smith & Co Solicitors Ltd is a leading law firm, acting for a wealth of clients both locally and nationally.

The firm: The firm was established in 1995 with the intention of serving the trade unions, its members and local communities. Browell Smith & Co Ltd specialises in claims relating to personal injury, including: accidents at work; asbestos-related diseases; road traffic accidents; industrial/occupational diseases; and abuse compensation on behalf of claimants.

The firm also has an excellent reputation in handling cases relating to clinical negligence, family law, wills, trusts and probate, conveyance and remortgaging. The firm is extremely proud of its success, and the formidable reputation it has built up as a key player in the legal field.

The firm has five offices throughout the northern region of the UK. Philip Browell, founding partner of the firm, commented, ‘we see having a multitude of branch offices as a way of enhancing the first-class legal services we already provide to people of the region and indeed the UK’.

Browell went on to explain that the firm’s development continues in the personal injury, industrial disease and clinical negligence fields.

Types of work undertaken
Personal injury: the firm’s litigation department, under the guidance of department head Philip Browell, continues to consolidate its established reputation as experts in accidents at work, industrial disease and road traffic accidents, as well as increasing instructions in areas such as abuse compensation, spinal and head injuries. New instructions include representation at inquests, complaints to the Care Quality Commission and professional negligence relating to the handling of personal injury claims. The firm also deals with holiday and travel claims both in the EU, US and worldwide, and also handles mediation in personal injury matters.

Clinical negligence: this growing department is headed by senior litigator Phillip Browell, together with Dawn Bagley. Well-respected clinical negligence practitioner Peter Maughan has also joined the team. The practice received a significant increase in instructions in all areas of clinical and dental negligence.

Occupational diseases: cases involving asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural plaques and pleural thickening are areas of particular expertise, with senior litigator Dawn Bagley and the various industrial disease teams undertaking the work. Other industrial diseases specialised in include silicosis, upper limb disorders, vibration white finger, chest diseases, dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, stress and industrially linked cancers, with Adam Burton.

Matrimonial and childcare: Gemma Iceton, an experienced family lawyer, is one of only a limited number of lawyers in the region able to offer collaborative law as a means of resolving matters arising out of breakdown of relationships without going to court. Gemma is also a trained family mediator. The department continues to assist clients with all family law-related matters, including divorce, children issues, financial settlement and civil partnerships. Advice is also given on civil partnerships.

Conveyancing: although the property market has consolidated, conveyancing and remortgaging work within the firm continues to progress under the guidance of Rodger Wilkinson. The firm deals with all aspects of conveyancing, including home sales and purchases, remortgages, transfer of equity, right to buy and buy to let.

Wills, trusts and probate: the firm’s wills, trusts and probate department, under the guidance of department head Stephen Browell, deals with all matters relating to wills, trusts, probate, lasting powers of attorney, care-home fee advice and administration of estates, as well as estate planning. The department also offers free advice surgeries on a whole range of probate-related matters, held in many of the branch offices (see website for details www.browells.co.uk).