Express Solicitors makes RTA promotions

Manchester-based personal injury law firm Express Solicitors has promoted partner Kimberley Kirkby to head of the road traffic accidents department and Rachel Price to associate partner in the same team.

Kirkby joined the firm as part of its very first new client team in 2007 and has worked her way up through the ranks to the position of partner in the employers’ liability department. As head of road traffic accidents, she will lead a team of 53 fee earners and support staff.

Joining the firm two years ago, Price worked as an associate solicitor in the occupiers’ and public liability department before gaining promotion to associate partner, which includes a move to the road traffic accidents department.

Express Solicitors has undergone a complete reorganisation of its road traffic accidents department in preparation for changes in legislation in April 2020, which will see a tariff system for whiplash claims introduced, settlements without medical evidence banned, and the small claims threshold raised to £5,000.

Commenting on her promotion, Kirkby said:  “I’m delighted to have achieved my goal of becoming  a partner and head of department at the firm, which was something I was told was possible at the very beginning when I started out in the new client team.”

“Heading up the RTA department following the whiplash reforms will be challenging, but we have prepared for them as much as possible and will adapt when they come to ensure claimants continue to get the justice they deserve when they’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t their fault.”

Express Solicitors managing partner James Maxey said: “It is a policy of the firm to promote from within, where possible, in order to reward those lawyers who’ve shown commitment, tenacity and expertise.”

“These current promotions have been part of our strategy to protect the department against the dramatic reforms that will be brought in next year.  In Kimberley and Rachel, we have two experienced lawyers with the skills to guide the team through these challenging times.”

Mark Dugdale