KEOGHS - Key Persons
Adam qualified as a solicitor in 2014 and obtained his higher rights of audience in 2017. Prior to joining Keoghs, Adam completed his training and initial post qualification work and was required to handle a mix of high value and complex matters alongside the run of fast track claims. He was utilised as an in-house advocate in respect of his own and his colleagues' case loads and has a breadth of experience in both oral and written advocacy; able to present complicated legal arguments in either form with equal effectiveness.
His current practice is focused on counter fraud work, arising from exaggerated claims, low velocity impact and/or staged/contrived road traffic accidents.
Adam has gained experience far beyond his qualified years in matters of personal injury and is comfortable in dealing with all types of work, whether it be as a result of road traffic accidents, employers/public liability or accidents at work.
Aidan joined Keoghs as a Partner in 2011 having spent 14 years with another defendant law firm and before that, 15 years in the insurance industry. As a member of our complex injury claims team he acts for some of our top 5 major insurer clients, specialising in high value and complex personal injury claims, particularly those involving technical RTA and indemnity issues.
Aidan has a wide range of advocacy experience including interlocutory applications, case management conferences, detailed assessments, and attending magistrates and coroners courts for inquests relating to fatal accident claims. He takes a commercial approach to litigation and actively supports ADR in relation to the claims process. Aidan also has supervisory responsibility on technical issues for other areas of the firm.
Alexandra has over 20 years' experience of dealing with high-value and catastrophic cases having initially trained in the Claimant arena dealing before qualifying in 2002. Since then she has worked as defendant personal injury lawyer continuing to handle catastrophic and high-value cases. She deals with all aspects of employer's liability, public liability, and motor claims and is a named solicitor for a leading insurer.
Alice joined Keoghs in 2010 with a BA Honours Degree from Central Lancashire University. Alice started in Keoghs Intelligence Services as a data entry clerk in Oct 2010 and was promoted to an intelligence analyst in January 2011. Alice has progressed quickly within the intelligence team and has developed into a confident intelligence analyst with responsibility for handling intelligence in relation to some of the insurance industry's most prominent fraud rings.
Alice became an associate of Keoghs LLP in June 2015 and in May 2016 took on the role of the law enforcement liaison officer, the specific point of contact for IFED and other UK Police Forces. Working with many clients to assist them with general law enforcement enquires and producing evidence as required in cases referred to the police for criminal investigations. In July 2017 she was appointed as the MDA Manager, becoming the key point of contact for MDA clients and the driving force behind developing the product. She is a confident presenter who regularly meets with peers within the industry, demonstrating industry leading intelligence techniques, which has made her a focal point of contact with insurers across the marketplace, as well as lawyers within the business.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal Analyst
Alison is Keoghs Intelligence Services' Principal Analyst and also now runs Keoghs Strategic Intelligence Team which deals with proactive and strategic insurance industry investigations. She is passionate about the use and dissemination of intelligence in the fraud arena and holds the Advanced Certificate in Investigative Practice.
Alison re-joined Keoghs in 2012 having originally been with the company from 2002 - 2007 and has been instrumental in establishing the intelligence team whilst undertaking desktop investigations and analysis of suspected fraudulent claims. She was also involved in a number of cross industry fraud ring investigations at their inception, requiring not only data mining and analysis but also the understanding of fraud profiling methodologies. Prior to joining Keoghs, she spent 13 years working within the UK insurance industry (including four years within the counter-fraud unit at AXA insurance) and also headed up the intelligence team for a defendant law firm.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Partner
Allison is Chief Executive Officer for Keoghs and leads the Board which is responsible for the day to day running of the business.
Since joining Keoghs in 2002 Allison's roles have included fee earner, team leader, business unit director and operations director of each of the divisions. This has given Allison a wealth of experience and knowledge across the organisation.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Business Unit Director - Complex Injury
Amanda is a partner and the business unit director for our complex injury claims teams based in Bolton, Coventry and Manchester as well as the business unit director of our casualty team. In these roles, Amanda is responsible for the operational and financial performance of these business areas; the people development; and importantly, the service delivery to our clients, by ensuring their quality objectives are achieved.
Since joining Keoghs in 1999, Amanda's roles have involved fee earner, team leader and business unit director. Amanda has successfully managed teams and business areas in each of Keoghs divisions. This has given Amanda broad experience in defendant insurance litigation.
Amy is an associate solicitor with over 10 years post qualification experience who has specialised in organised fraud rings since November 2009. She is in a senior fraud ring champion role which combines team leader responsibilities with responsibility for developing the team technically and challenging strategy. Another facet of the role is to identify cross industry exposure on the fraud rings in order to highlight the exposure to insurers to maintain a proactive stance. Her highlights include being fraud ring champion of a large scale operation whereby the key protagonist Kevin Heartbreak was investigated by IFED and ultimately pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud by false misrepresentation and jailed for 18 months.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Head of Corporate and Sector Risks
Andrew leads our corporate & sector risk practice, with overall responsibility for its proposition and strategic direction. Working with our six sector leaders and enjoying annualised organic growth, the team are proud to deliver single source, cross-class solutions to help protect the financial and reputational interests of some of the UK's highest profile and major brands. Working with our six sector leaders in a practice enjoying annual sustained and structured growth, the team are proud to continue to protect the financial and reputational interests of some of the UK's highest profile and major brands.
Andrew sits on our Sales Board, and is a client account manager for some of our key corporate clients, working closely at a senior level with the respective customer & sales teams in the chosen broking and insurer markets. Andrew trained as a litigator, and has handled many unique, complex precedent-setting cases, often with reputational/brand related issues.
Andrew specialises in shipping and marine insurance litigation. He has broad experience of all aspects of marine disputes, both wet and dry, acting principally for shipowners, charterers, insurers and traders. His cases include major casualties, total loss of vessel and cargo, charterparty disputes, general average, marine insurance coverage and trading/commodity disputes.
Andrew handles litigation before the Commercial and Admiralty Courts in London and Arbitration Tribunals including the LMAA, LCIA and ICC.
Andrew is a partner in our complex injury team. He qualified as a solicitor in 1999 and has over 20 years personal injury litigation experience, handling claims of maximum severity from early in his career. He has dealt with road traffic, employers' and public liability matters involving the most serious injuries including amputations, brain and spinal cord injuries along with chronic pain and fatal injury cases. Andrew takes a proactive approach to litigation and recognises the benefit of the early rehabilitation to achieve the best possible outcome for an injured claimant which, in turn, minimises his insurer client's exposure in terms of damages and costs. Andrew is happy to provide training to his clients on the key issues relating to large loss and catastrophic injury claims.
Andrew specialises in insurance related advice, litigation and dispute resolution. Areas of particular focus include policy interpretation and disputes, fire and special risk claims (including recovery claims) and commercial disputes. He also has a particular specialism in product liability and product recall claims. Andrew has over 35 years' insurance industry and litigation experience including 11 years' experience as a loss adjuster, dealing with a range of high value, complex property, fire and accident assignments.
Andrew conducts subrogated recovery actions for a wide range of insurers, building owners, local authorities, owners and commercial insurers. He also advises on professional indemnity claims brought against a range of professionals, particularly those in broking. His clients include insurers, underwriters, manufacturers, brokers, architects and retailers
Job Titles:
- Partner / Head of Reinsurance
Andrew qualified as an insurance and reinsurance lawyer in the City in 2001. He joined Keoghs' London office as a partner in 2017.
Andrew has wide experience in coverage and related disputes across a number of lines of first party and third party business, including reinsurance, property, CAR, PI, D&O, and cyber. He has a particular interest in the operation of the insurance market and often acts in connection with subscription market issues, delegated authority agreements and layered (re)insurance programmes.
Andrew's caseload typically consists of technical, complex and/or high value matters, often involving multiple parties and jurisdictions around the world. He also drafts (re)insurance wordings and advises insurers on product development.
Andrew is a regular speaker and commentator in the insurance market and runs the Insurance Contract Wordings courses for the Lloyd's Market Association. The Legal 500 says: "Andrew Schutte: exceptional technical ability delivered in a no-nonsense style. He's the go-to partner for any troublesome legal problems" and "Andrew Schutte has an excellent knowledge of the insurance and reinsurance market. He is proactive in ensuring he knows where the next round of disputes are going to be, and ensuring he is on top of it. In terms of litigation, he has an excellent instinct for taking the right course, and has a well organised team."
Andrew re-joined Keoghs in February 2012 and became a Partner in July 2013.
He has over 16 years' experience acting for insurers and currently advises and defends claims against insurers in connection with a wide variety of policy indemnity issues, as well as acting for insurers in connection with product liability and property damage claims. Andrew lectures both in house and to clients on a variety of topics.
Andrew is a lead catastrophic injury lawyer, covering a wide range of RTA/Casualty claims whilst also drawing on his past experience including criminal law, mental health, police actions, inquests and human rights. The majority of his cases involve high value spinal injuries, brain injuries and amputations, for which he has been instructed regularly by numerous major insurers over the last decade. Andrew has also been involved in high profile, group litigation.
In addition to providing regular training to clients, Andrew is keen to explore ways to simplify and innovate high value claims handling processes. In doing this, he has developed and continues to develop a number of interactive handling tools for use by lawyers and insurers.
Andrew is a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500. Previous comments within the Legal 500 state that "Williamson is recommended for leaving nothing to chance in the preparation of evidence" and that he is "A high flying star who is enormously respected in the industry".
Having spent the last 12 years working for a leading credit hire organisation, Andy joined Keoghs in April 2015 as Deputy Business Unit Director for pre litigated credit hire and was made Business Unit Director in December 2015.
Andy has developed a wealth of general insurance experience covering motor, rehabilitation, personal injury, and credit hire. His detailed knowledge of claimant and defendant processes has brought significant benefits to the market and enabled him to establish high performance levels at point of delivery. He also has responsibility for liaising with the Technical Director within credit hire on the setting and implementation of key strategies and analysing market behaviours.
Ben has over ten years' experience in dealing with fraudulent personal injury claims and is a qualified solicitor. Following the Jackson reforms he has sought to develop and implement robust strategies in respect of Late Notified Claims and claims layering. As a result, Ben has been at the forefront of Keogh's award winning Late Claims strategy which won the Claims Initiative of the Year award at the 2016 BIAs and the Independent Fraud Investigation Team of the Year at the 2016 Insurance Fraud Awards.
Notably, Ben successfully case managed a group of cases in which the insurer successfully applied for a finding of fundamental dishonesty following the filing of notices of discontinuance by claimants in respect of Late Notified Claims. He also case managed a cross industry piece of group litigation relating to fraudulent claims for physiotherapy and CBT resulting in a cohort of cases being discontinued and wasted costs being paid by the claimant solicitors in excess of £180,000.
Further to Late Notified Claims, Ben has expertise in dealing with organised fraud rings and is responsible for ensuring that the very best approaches are deployed by the fraud rings team to ensure successful outcomes against both claimants and their enablers.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Amputations Special Interest Group Lead
Ben is a partner at Keoghs who leads a team of lawyers dealing with a range of large loss and catastrophic injury claims which predominantly arise from road traffic accidents. Ben's caseload includes brain injuries of all severities, functional neurological disorder, chronic pain, fatal accidents, multiple orthopaedic injuries and amputations.
Ben leads Keoghs amputation special interest group that provides clients with the latest insight and advice, while standardising and rationalising internal handling processes.
Ben also particularly enjoys complex causation cases that often involve complicated or novel factual, medical and legal points.
Ben is adept at dealing with all liability issues and has taken cases to trial in the both the County Courts and the High Court in respect of claims from pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Ben has been consistently considered a "key lawyer" by the Legal 500.
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute
- Partner / Business Transformation Director
Billie is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (FCILEx), qualifying in 1994 and has over 25 years of civil litigation experience. She joined Keoghs in 1998 having first gained six years' valuable experience of claimant personal injury litigation initially undertaking defendant RTA litigation before joining Keoghs' Counter Fraud Services team. After becoming a case handling team leader in 2002, and partner in 2009, Billie was appointed as Business Unit Director in the motor fraud unit in 2010. She is additionally operationally responsible for the Keoghs' centralised file opening function.
Qualifying as a solicitor in 1999, Carrie joined Keoghs as a partner in 2010 and, for the past 14 years, has worked for composite insurers and large insureds.
She has dealt with a wide variety of disease claims (from £1,000 to £2.5 million) encompassing the full long and short-tail range as well as more unusual claims such as chemical poisoning, hypoxic brain injury and a multi-party HAVS claim for a glass manufacturer. With a particular interest in disease fraud, she recently secured savings of £400,000 in an unusual respiratory claim.
Carrie develops strategies with insurer clients for dealing with disease claims and also delivers training seminars.
Catherine has been handling defendant catastrophic injury cases including claims of the utmost severity since 2005.
Catherine adds expertise to all elements of large loss work. Her caseload covers the breadth of these claims from the most complex quantum issues including fatalities, brain injuries, spinal injuries and amputation claims to liability disputes and claims where there are serious causation concerns. She is also highly experienced in the management of rehabilitation in large loss cases.
Catherine regularly provides training to clients on a wide range of subjects linked to catastrophic claims.
Catherine is known for her technical expertise, collaborative and pragmatic approach, forensic eye to detail and ability to spot early issues.
Charlotte has worked in catastrophic injury since qualifying as a solicitor in 2012 and joined Keoghs' complex and catastrophic loss team in July 2013.
Charlotte has extensive experience in advising in large loss and catastrophic claims involving amputations, multiple complex fractures, brain injuries and spinal trauma. She frequently advises on liability disputes involving accident reconstruction evidence and has been instructed on a number of claims involving indemnity issues and policy coverage.
Charlotte has a keen interest in chronic pain claims cases often involving multi-faceted psychiatric issues. She has focussed her practice on resolving claims quickly and effectively, resulting in successful early commercial settlements for her clients. By engaging with opponents at the earliest opportunity and establishing a collaborative approach, she achieves the best possible results for the claim as a whole.
Chris leads our and crime and regulatory team across the Midlands and specialises exclusively in providing expert advice in relation to adverse incidents and compliance with regulatory requirements.
His experience includes representing companies, directors, senior managers, public sector organisations and individuals in defending, responding to and avoiding regulatory breaches.
He provides specialist support and advice from the outset following accidents and crisis events such as food, fire, rail and environmental incidents within his clients' businesses.
Chris was first ranked in Chambers in 2003 and he has been named as one of the Top 50 legal advisers in the North West. For many years he has been a named individual with a Top Tier ranking for Health and Safety in the Legal 500 and quoted in Chambers.
He is also quoted in the legal experts section of Tolley's Guide to Corporate Manslaughter and has been published, interviewed and quoted by the Times, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 2, Radio 5 Live and Central News. He has also written published articles for the Financial Times, Insurance Post, Birmingham Post and Estates Gazette and Chris regularly delivers speeches and training for the leading practitioners' bodies such as IOSH, ROSPA, the British Safety Council etc.
He sits on the IOSH Food and Drink Industries Committee. Before joining Keoghs, Chris led a highly regarded team of specialist regulatory lawyers, the team's accolades included a top tier ranking in Legal 500 in both the East and West Midlands.
Job Titles:
- Partner / Head of Crime and Regulatory
Chris is based in the London office and leads the national crime and regulatory team. He has extensive experience of managing health and safety investigations from day one and dealing with the HSE/CPS/CQC/EHO. He is regularly instructed on high profile claims including gross negligence manslaughter/corporate manslaughter.
Chris represents and advises clients at regulatory interviews and undertakes the advocacy at Magistrates' Court hearings and inquests. He is instructed to handle both criminal and civil proceedings and regularly presents to his clients on all aspects of health and safety law.
Chris is a partner in our complex and catastrophic team based in Newcastle. He specialises in large loss and catastrophic injury claims in the RTA arena and has a particular interest in brain, spinal and amputation injuries.
In addition to handling large loss and catastrophic injury files, Chris is a key client relationship contact for a number of national insurers. He has also been heavily involved in setting up the Newcastle office of Keoghs.
Chris is instructed to defend abuse claims on behalf of a variety of clients including insurers, religious organisations, charities, schools and sporting clubs. He also has experience of handling claims on behalf of various police authorities and offender service providers, including defamation, misfeasance in public office, battery, assault, false imprisonment (unlawful detention), offender lost property and malicious prosecution claims. He also regularly advises clients on related issues including policy coverage and Independent Inquiries. In particular, he has been extensively involved in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (‘IICSA') and Clive Sheldon QC's Independent Inquiry into Historic Child Sexual Abuse in Football.
In the 2022 edition of Legal 500 a client said "Christopher Wilson is undoubtedly the rising star in this area of litigation. He has already been involved in numerous complex and high-profile matters, including at least two that have reached the Court of Appeal. Never one to shirk hard work, his meticulous attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile in the interests of his clients is invaluable".
Job Titles:
- Partner / Professional and Financial Services
Christopher is a partner in professional risks, specialising in the defence of claims against professionals and related coverage issues for over 20 years. He has a particular focus upon defending claims against solicitors, from sole practitioners to top 30 law firms. He also advises insurers and brokers on coverage issues, including those arising from the Minimum Terms and Qualifying Insurers' Agreement.
Chris handles group actions against solicitors and surveyors. One instruction related to over 40 claims against one firm of solicitors which settled very recently at mediation; and Chris has a similar on-going series of claims. Another recent instruction involves the defence of multiple claims against a firm arising from failed personal injury claims.
Chris' coverage work involves all aspects of policy interpretation including aggregation, policy exclusions and insuring clauses. Recent instructions include advice on the definition of ‘private legal practice' on a multi-million pound claim arising from the alleged use of a solicitors' client account to launder funds, aggregation across multiple claims against a firm and dishonesty provisions.
Chris handles claims against accountants, surveyors, brokers and other professionals. Recent instructions include claims against accountants arising from film-finance tax avoidance schemes and against insurance brokers where insurers have declined cover to policyholders for material breaches of policy conditions. Chris is also advising an insurer on a claim against the insurer's former legal advisers.
Chris is a very experienced mediator, having acted for and advised clients in more than 80 mediations and successfully resolved over 95% of them. Chris also provides regulatory and risk management advice to insurers, brokers and professionals.
Chris is ranked in Chambers and Legal 500 and is a regular speaker at client seminars.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of Our Fundamental Dishonesty Special Interest Group
Claire is a Partner in our Manchester complex injury team and has over 25 years experience.
She specialises in defending catastrophic motor, employers and public liability claims involving traumatic brain injuries, complex orthopaedic injuries, spinal injuries, amputations and chronic pain. She deals with all aspects of liability, indemnity, causation and quantum as well as carrying out pre-action claims investigation work on a national basis.
Claire is a leading member of our Fundamental Dishonesty Special Interest Group which provides strategic advice on all chronic pain issues, fundamental dishonesty and emerging trends such as functional neurological disorder. She is incredibly thorough in her approach and has a keen eye for detail, providing clear concise advice with a defined strategy.
She delivers training sessions to clients and provides mentoring support to claims handlers to support their own learning and progression. Claire is the FOIL representative for ED&I .
Connie is a partner with over 15 years' experience of handling professional indemnity, property and casualty related claims. Connie and her team joined the Keoghs London office in 2017. Connie advises insurers on policy coverage and regularly represents insurers at mediations and arbitrations on complex coverage disputes as well as acting for both insurers and their insureds in a variety of damages related claim disputes.
Significant policy coverage cases include advising a mixed London/composite market client base on coverage issues in the widely reported "Son of Tag" litigation which involved claims by ATE Insurers against over 70 firms of solicitors totalling in excess of £60 million. Connie also regularly assists insurers in successfully declining indemnity for breach of policy terms and conditions in respect of claims for substantial damages as a consequence of property damage, business interruptions and financial loss claims.
Connie's particular expertise is in the construction and electrical sectors, and is frequently insurers' nominated lawyer of choice in handling claims on behalf of construction professionals, contractors and employers. Connie is currently heavily involved in litigated multi-party construction disputes as well as acting on behalf of insurers in some high profile disputes in the electrical sector worth in excess of £50 million.
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- Partner / Head of Motor and Counter - Fraud
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- Partner / Head of Casualty
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- Partner / Client Development Director
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- Scotland Partner
- Partner / Solicitor Advocate
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- Partner - Manchester / Health & Safety
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- Partner / Head of Leisure and Hospitality
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- Partner / Professional and Financial Services
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- Technical Director of Costs
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- Partner / Business Unit Director - Motor
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- Partner / Spinal Injuries Special Interest Group Lead
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- Partner / Director of Casualty Fraud
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- Associate
- Associate / Corporate and Sector
Fiona has worked in defendant litigation for over 20 years and has worked with a range of corporates, insurers and brokers in the construction, supply, manufacturing and logistic sectors covering casualty and motor claims (including defending claims against the MIB), large loss and technical claims, aviation claims, professional indemnity claims, property damage and recoveries.
Fiona is highly experienced in handling casualty claims ranging from fast track through to complex injury claims involving CRPS, fibromyalgia, PTSD and amputees and high-value property damage claims caused by subsidence, flooding (failed water/heating systems and environmental), oil spillages and fire. She regularly acts in multi-party construction claims, pursues recovery claims and advises clients on policy indemnity issues.
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- Chief Commercial Officer
- Partner
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- Partner / Professional and Financial Services
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- Partner / Professional and Financial Services
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- Partner / Technical Director - Corporate & Sector Risks
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- Partner / Head of Food and Drink
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- Partner
- Partner / Corporate and Sector
Jo is a Partner, Sector Leader and Client Account Manager in Keoghs' Corporate and Sector Risks Practice. She has 30 years experience in the insurance industry, working with a vast range of corporates, insurers and brokers.
Jo has led TPA operations and teams specialising in managing casualty claims from inception to resolution, pre litigation to litigation (if required). She has worked with dozens of corporate clients over the years spanning sectors in Construction, Aviation, Retail, Food & Drink and Transport & Logistics. The work has covered motor and casualty claims, police and criminal aspects, health and safety, operational processes, claims risk management, property damage and recoveries. Jo has represented clients at inquests and done advocacy on road traffic final hearings; as well as covering various interlocutory matters.
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- Partner / Client Service Director - Corporate and Sector Risks
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- Chief Information Officer
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- Partner / Professional and Financial Services
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- Partner / Head of Complex and CAT PI
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- Partner / Chief Operating Officer - Complex Division
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- Partner / Brain Injuries Special Interest Group Lead
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- Partner / Operations Director - Corporate and Sector Risks
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- Partner / Business Unit Director - Property Risks and Coverage
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- Partner / Director of Strategy - Motor Personal Injury
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- Associate / Emerging Trends Special Interest Group Lead
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- Partner / Head of Transport and Logistics
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- Partner - Manchester / Health & Safety
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- Partner / Head of Clients
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- Partner / Corporate and Sector
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- Partner / Chronic Pain Special Interest Group Lead
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- Partner / Transport & Logistics
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- Partner / Director of Market Affairs
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- Partner / Business Unit Director - Costs
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- Partner / Operations Director - Disease
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- Partner / Employment and Discrimination
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- Partner
- Partner - Belfast
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- Clinical Negligence Costs Lawyer