Switalskis Solicitors acquires clinical negligence, brain and serious injury teams from hlw Keeble Hawson

Switalskis Solicitors has acquired the clinical negligence, brain and serious injury teams from South Yorkshire firm hlw Keeble Hawson.

From Monday 21 November, Mark Hollinghurst and Janet Baker will join the firm as directors, bringing with them an experienced team of 20 lawyers and support staff. Both directors are recommended by the Legal 500 as leading lawyers and are highly respected for handling complex cases involving serious and life-changing injuries.

Hollinghurst will lead the brain and serious injury team in Doncaster, while Baker will head up the Sheffield-based clinical negligence team.

Switalskis’ reputation for its clinical negligence expertise has flourished under the leadership of director, Suzanne Munroe, who joined from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors in 2013. Based in Huddersfield, Munroe has been shortlisted for Claimant Personal Injury Lawyer at the Eclipse Proclaim Personal Injury Awards. Her team also won in the Dispute Resolution category at the 2016 Yorkshire Legal Awards in October.

Managing director John Durkan said: “This latest deal follows a string of practice acquisitions over the past 4 years which will see the firm double its turnover to £15m.

“The rapid growth of our private client and claimant practise has also meant we’ve dramatically reduced our reliance on Legal Aid as an income stream from 75% to 25% of the firm turnover across the same period, whilst at the same maintaining our reputation and brand for providing quality legal services to individuals.”

The firm now has 259 staff and 21 Directors working out of 13 locations across Yorkshire.

Pictured (L-R) Janet Baker, Mark Hollinghurst, John Durkan, Sarah Walker and Suzanne Munroe

Mark Dugdale