Digby Brown LLP

Brian Castle

Brian is head of Digby Brown’s regional general litigation department, ultimately responsible for operations in a number of the firm’s regional offices. He became a partner with the firm in 2002 and was a member of its executive board between 2008 and 2013. Brian deals with a wide range of personal injury work on behalf of claimants, litigating in Sheriff Courts; The All-Scotland Personal Injury Court and in the the Court of Session. He is part of Digby Brown’s specialist motorcycle law department. He has also developed a professional interest in equine related accident cases.

Chris Stewart

Chris is a partner in the Serious Injury department. He qualified as a solicitor and notary public in 2000 and became a solicitor advocate (civil) in 2006. He has extended rights of audience in the Court of Session, House of Lords and Privy Council. Chris has considerable experience in personal injury (employers liability and RTA) in both the Sheriff Court and Court of Session. He is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL); and of the Society of Solicitor Advocates. Under Chris' leadership the Serious Injury department also won the Catastrophic Injury Team of the Year title at the 2020 UK Personal Injury Awards and the Litigation Team of the Year prize at the 2021 Scottish Legal Awards.

Damian White

Damian joined Digby Brown firm as partner in the network department in January 2014. Damian was previously a partner with Allan MacDougall and Co and HBJ Claims Solutions Solicitors. He has a wealth of personal injury experience, from occupiers’ liability cases through to complex fatal cases. In recent years Damian has litigated heavily in the Court of Session, delivering substantial awards for his clients. He is regularly invited by a number of professional organisations to provide professional training to fellow solicitors in Scotland on issues relating to personal injury law.

Darrell Kaye

Darrell Kaye joined the firm in 2002 - she qualified as a personal injury solicitor in 2004 and was made partner in 2011. She heads the firm's Ayr office and is one of our experts in personal injury claims, specialising in accident at work claims and road traffic accident claims as well as accidents involving fatalities. Darrell has experience representing individuals across Scotland, litigating personal injury claims in both the Sheriff Courts and the Court of Session.

David Wilson

David is a partner in the network department, a solicitor advocate, and joint Scottish coordinator of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). He is accredited as a senior litigator and the only lawyer in Scotland to be accredited as a specialist in fatal claims. Over the last 30 years David has conducted several high-profile actions such as the Glasgow Bin Lorry accident and for workers in the transport and construction industries. David has years of experience in the areas of fatal and sudden death claims, public liability, employer’s liability, occupier’s Liability, road traffic accidents and professional negligence. He regularly provides top rated training to bar associations, the Law Society and Central Law Training.

David Nellaney

David joined the firm in 2004, after graduating from Glasgow University. He qualified as a Solicitor in 2006 and was made associate in 2011 and then Partner in 2015. David is based in Digby Brown's Glasgow office and is part of the firm's Network Department. He specialises in workplace claims, road traffic accident and general accident claims and is experienced in handling cases of these types in the Sheriff Courts and Court of Session. Notable cases he is involved in include: supporting the family of Lamara Bell (victim of the M9 police call handling tragedy); survivors of the M&Ds rollercoaster disaster; and securing £1.5m for a firefighter who suffered an amputation injury as a result of a workplace training injury. David is an accredited specialist in Personal Injury Law by the Law Society of Scotland and accredited as a Senior Litigator by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).

Dawn McCafferty

Dawn joined the firm in 2008 having graduated from Strathclyde University in 2000, and qualified as a solicitor in 2002. Dawn is a partner in the firm’s insurance litigation department and deals with accidents on the roads, at work, occupier and public liability claims, as well as fatal accidents. Dawn has considerable experience of cases in both the Court of Session and Sheriff Court and has a particular expertise in employers liability cases, becoming one of the leading practitioners within the firm. Dawn was admitted as a Writer to the Signet and was the instructed solicitor in the case of Annette Miller v Chivas Brothers Limited (2014) CSIH 65.

Fraser Simpson

Fraser qualified as a solicitor in 1990, joined Digby Brown Solicitors in 2000 and was made partner in 2005. From 2009 he was head of our Union Department specialising in litigating employers' liability claims, culminating in the landmark Supreme Court decision of Kennedy v. Cordia (Services) LLP [2016 UKSC 6].. In February 2011, Fraser assumed responsibility as head of Digby Brown's Industrial Disease claims team, specialising in asbestos claims. He has overseen landmark victories including WW v. The Advocate General for Scotland [2015] CSOH 111 and Harris v. The Advocate General for Scotland [2016] CSOH 49. Fraser is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in personal injury. He was a Solicitor member of the Sheriff Court Rules Council from 2008, enjoying a prominent role in drafting and introducing new Ordinary and Summary Cause rules for personal injury procedure in the Sheriff Court. Since 2013, he has served on the personal injury committee of Civil Justice Council for Scotland, assisting in the drafting and implementation of personal injury practice and procedure rules to help implement the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Fraser Oliver

Fraser is a Partner and the Chief Executive of Digby Brown LLP. In 2008 he was appointed to Digby Brown’s executive board before taking on his current role as chief executive in 2013. Over this period the firm’s turnover has grown from £8m to £40m and was one of the founding directors of the firm’s funding product, Compensate. Under Fraser's leadership, Digby Brown earned 'Firm of the Year' titles at the Scottish Legal Awards in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022. - as an individual, Fraser himself was also awarded Managing Partner of the Year in 2015. In his time as Chief Executive, Fraser has also guided the firm as it became the first UK law firm to obtain Platinum accreditation from Investors in People - Digby Brown was also the first law firm in the Scotland to become a Living Wage Employer. And in 2015 Digby Brown was crowned top SME 300 business by Scottish Business Insider.

Gordon Dalyell

Gordon Dalyell qualified as a solicitor in 1990, and joined Digby Brown, as a partner, in 1998. He heads up the Network Department. He has wide experience in dealing with many areas of personal injury, including accidents at work, and road traffic accidents, as well as fatal accident claims and claims for miscarriages of justice. Gordon obtained rights of audience as a Solicitor-Advocate (civil) in 2003. He has been accredited as a specialist in Personal Injury Law by the Law Society of Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and has been the Executive Committee member for Scotland since 2010. He was President of the Association for 2019 - 2020, and is the current Treasurer. He has given evidence, on behalf of the Association, to the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster, and to the Justice, and Economy, Energy, and Fair Work Committees at Holyrood. He has been involved in responding to consultations from, and engaging with, government at both UK and Scottish level.

Innes Laing

Innes is a partner in the firm’s insurance litigation department, heading up its growing Kirkcaldy office since 2012. He joined Digby Brown in 2001 and was made partner in 2009. Innes deals with all types of claims including road traffic accidents, industrial/workplace accidents, fatal accidents, public liability and occupiers liability accidents in the Court of Session and Sheriff Court. He is an experienced Sheriff Court practitioner and has undertaken a number of proofs throughout his career. Innes is an accredited specialist in personal injury law, accredited senior litigator in the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and vice chairman of Fife Headway.

Kim Leslie

Kim is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde and qualified in 1999. She joined Digby Brown in 2000. She is a partner within the Edinburgh office and head of the Non-Accidental team. A team dedicated to representing those abused in childhood or otherwise deliberately harmed. She has extensive experience of all types of personal injury work and Kim is both accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Personal Injury Law and is a Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). She is also a member of the Ogden Working Party, was a Chair of the Civil Justice Committee for the Law Society (from 2009 - 2019) and is currently the Executive Director of Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (June 2020 - present). As Chair of ‘Restoring the Balance of Justice’, Kim lead a campaign involving national and international experts and campaigners aiming to overcome barriers to justice in Scotland for victims of stalking and harassment. Kim is also a panel member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL) and was Highly Commended in the Scottish Law Awards 2022.

Mark Gibson

Mark graduated from Glasgow University in 2002 with an LLB (Hons) degree with Spanish Language. He is now a Partner based in Digby Brown's Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. He is the head of Digby Brown's Travel and Product Liability litigation teams. He specialises in product liability, personal injury litigation with a foreign element, aviation, offshore accidents, employers’ liability, road traffic and occupier's liability. He is very experienced in pursuing damages for the relatives of fatal accident victims and has represented families at several Fatal Accident Inquiries. Mark has a particular interest and specialism in product liability, food product liability and defective medical product claims. He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Personal Injury Law. He is accredited as a Senior Litigator by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and is the only APIL accredited Accident and Illnesses Abroad Specialist in Scotland. Mark is a Board Member of the Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers (PEOPIL) and is a former Revitalization Governor of the American Association for Justice. He regularly delivers legal education seminars to other members of the profession. He spent a year studying at the University of Granada and has previously worked for law firms in Australia and Hong Kong. Mark is also a former tutor of private, company, commercial and mercantile law at the University of Glasgow. He is a former director of a charitable company limited by guarantee.

Moira Kay

Moira is a Litigation Partner in the serious injury department. She has a specialist interest in personal injury cases involving brain and spinal injury and amputation claims. Moira provides a legal counselling service for Spinal Injuries Scotland, BIRT at Graham Anderson House in Glasgow and at Huntercombe Neurodisability. Moira has co-authored a publication entitled “Claiming Compensation after Head Injury in Scotland” for Headway and she is the chairperson of the Complex Injury Network Scotland.

Robert Kernaghan

Robert graduated from the University of Dundee in 1999, joined Digby Brown as a trainee, and was made a partner in 2009. He is a partner in the insurance litigation department, working from the Dundee office. Robert deals with a broad range of personal injury matters, including workplace, road traffic cases, product liability, case involving fatal injuries and public liability. He has extensive experience of litigation in both the sheriff court and the Court of Session. Robert also pursues professional negligence cases involving personal injury matters where pursuers have been poorly advised and has recovered over a million pounds of damages in that area of law.

Simon Hammond

Simon is a partner in Digby Brown's Network department having graduated from the University of Edinburgh before training and qualifying at Digby Brown. Assumed partner in 2015, Simon led the Personal Injury team in Edinburgh before merging with our Network Department in 2016 to create the largest team within the firm. Simon specialises in all aspects of personal injury with a particular interest in industrial accidents, health and safety at work, fatal cases and cases involving complex aspects of medical and legal causation. He has taken a keen interest in the establishment and early development of the new All Scotland Personal Injury Court in Edinburgh that was set up in 2015 and is a member of the court's Personal Injury User Group. He has taught the Personal Injury course as part of the Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh and regularly provides in-house training to Digby Brown's specialist personal injury lawyers.

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