Inspiration:

The work. There is no end to the tactics institutions will use to maximise profit at the expense of the injured individual. A lay person hasn’t got a hope of having the legal knowledge, expertise or wherewithal to compete with that. The law is difficult for the layman to understand. Ordinary people need legal experts who empathise with the victim and have the skills to do it right and that can be inspiring.

Good lawyers ask the client what it is the client wants. If the client gets what they want, they are then satisfied. It’s tricky sometimes, especially when the advice you give is negative. But a good lawyer should not shrink from telling the client how it is. Something that gets me angry is lawyers not using plain English when dealing with members of the public.

Clients want to know do I have a case? Are you good? Can you win my case? When? Lawyers need to take a wider approach to legal problems, and look at changing the systems. No accident victim would take a cheque if they could turn the clock back. Usually they just want to help make sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to anyone else. That courage, the victim’s courage, is inspiring. We need to look at rehabilitation. A lot of what a person does is connected to their work, connected to their identity. If they can get back to work, their recovery tends to be better. Their belief in their self-worth is often connected with their work, and ability to support a family and contribute economically to their society.

Lawyers need to take a more holistic approach to rehabilitation and link our advice to the state benefits system. That is where we, lawyers, can use our influence to effect policy. We can assist with other organisations which aim to help victims and help improve the law. That can be very worthwhile and inspiring.

Year of qualification:

1984

Specialises in:

Claimant Personal Injury work

Career with Morrish Solicitors:

25 years' experience of claimant personal injury litigation. I specialise in high value and complex cases. I have also developed considerable expertise in occupational disease claims and in the collective funding of litigation. I am one of a very limited number of solicitors to have recovered over £10 million in damages in less than 10 cases. I’ve been involved in cases as wide ranging as the Tenerife air disaster, the Bradford Fire, York carriageworks asbestos and both the Selby and Hatfield Rail disasters.

Memberships:

Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)
Vice President, APIL 2006 - 2007
President, APIL 2007 - 2008
Listed by Chambers UK as a Leading Practitioner.
Life Member, Headway
The Times Law Panel

Interests:

Politics, current affairs, football, rugby union

Heroes:

Joe Hill, Swedish American labour activist, member of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) and song writer. Google him, and you’ll see what I mean. Framed for murder in Utah in 1914, he spent 22 months in prison while his case went through the appeals process during which tens of thousands of letters, petitions and resolutions from IWW and Trade Unions the world over became part of the campaign to save him. When he was eventually sentenced to death, he wrote a telegram saying “Don’t waste time in mourning. Organize! Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don’t want to be found dead in Utah.” Even his memorial service brought together the global workers’ movement. His ashes were put into envelopes, posted to IWW members of every state in the USA (except Utah) and, on May Day 1916, were scattered to the four winds. Similar ceremonies also took place in Canada, Australia, Sweden and Nicaragua.

Associated Media Files:

The Times Law Panel

Morrish Solicitors Condemn Third Party Capture Lolly

Morrish & Co Defend Miners

Morrish and Co lead the way on Union funding of cases

Unions guarantee access to justice

APIL Model Pleadings and Applications. Martin Bare, Richard Copnall, Dominic Hughes, Simon Thorp, Andrew Axon. Published by Jordans, 2007.