Switalskis Solicitors was among the big winners on 12 November at the Eclipse Proclaims Personal Injury awards held at the Grange St. Paul’s hotel in central London.
The firm’s child abuse compensation team picked up the award for Claimant Personal Injury Team of the Year and Case of the Year for its work on the Rotherham child sexual exploitation case, while one of the firm’s solicitors, David Greenwood, was named the Claimant Lawyer of the Year.
Other notable award winners included Donna Scully (from Carpenters Solicitors), who was awarded the Outstanding Achievement of the Year for her work in developing the Personal Injury sector’s fight against fraudulent claims; Ian Walker, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award (a Tribunal Judge, former President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and co-author of the Rehabilitation Code); and law firm McKinty & Wright. The latter was named the Defendant Team of the Year and Sean McGahan from the firm was chosen by the judges to be the Defendant Lawyer of the Year.
A total of 47 firms, individuals and claims service providers were shortlisted by this year’s judges for having made an outstanding contribution to the Personal Injury sector in the last 12 months.
The awards were presented by the compère for the night, the comedian Josh Widdicombe.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by John Spencer, the director of Spencers Solicitors and the President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). He was joined in the judging process by Laurence Besemer, the CEO of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL); Deborah Evans the chief executive of APIL; Adrian Furness, the claims director at Covéa Insurance; Sucheet Amin, the founder of Aequitas Legal; Zoe Holland, the founder of Zebra Legal Consulting; Zara Tancock, head of business development at IQED; and Colin Richmond, a barrister from Zenith Chambers.
The full list of award winners was as follows:
Claimant Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year