Carlisle-based Spencer Knaggs heads up the team at Burnetts which supports claimants in the North from coast to coast with further offices in Cockermouth, Newcastle and Hexham. The team focuses on high value clinical negligence matters as well as serious personal injury cases such as brain and spinal injuries. With a background in midwifery, Michelle Armstrong is particularly well-placed to handle complex birth trauma cases. She is supported in this area by senior associate Jayne McCluskey. While legal director Lynne Hall leads the misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of dancer sub-team, Paul Brown is the key partner for serious and brain injury claims. Legal director Mick Laffey joined from True Solicitors LLP in January 2023.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘A very approachable, knowledgeable, and efficient team. This is the team to which clients seek advice when they have been failed elsewhere.’
- ‘I work frequently with Lynne Hall and Jayne McCluskey. Both are extremely pleasant to work with, and assiduous in preparing cases and following up on advice. I rate them both very highly.’
Work highlights
- Settled an extremely difficult claim for injuries caused to a mother during a traumatic forceps delivery where the Claimant suffered permanent urinary and bowel continence problems, nerve damage and a psychiatric injury, all of which have impeded her ability to work as a nurse, leading to her having to step down from a specialist practitioner role.
- Secured judgment on liability for the claimant in a serious spinal injury case, currently valued at £13,000,000.