Member Article

Leading medical negligence lawyer returns to Southampton

Leading medical negligence lawyer Chris Thorne has returned to home territory to build upon the medical negligence and personal injury practice operating from Clarke Willmott LLP’s Southampton office.

Clarke Willmott has a highly regarded medical negligence and personal injury team operating from a number of their offices across the country, with a well established reputation.

Chris said: “Whilst in an age of modern communications, we already provide a seamless service to our medical negligence and personal injury clients in the Southampton area, nothing is quite as reassuring for those clients as knowing that there is a presence on the ground in their locality, whom they can turn to in times of need.”

Born and brought up in Verwood, where his family still live, and with strong links to Southampton and the surrounding area, including lifelong support of the Saints, Chris is delighted to be back on home territory. Now based in the West Country, he went to school in Wimborne, studied at Reading and Guildford and is looking forward to spending time back amongst friends and family in familiar surroundings.

Rated as Band 1 by the Chambers & Partners Legal Guide for both clinical negligence and personal injury Chris is noted as being “adept at dealing with spinal and brain injury cases and is also widely respected for his knowledge of the cryogenic field…A thoroughly impressive senior solicitor with amazing powers of persuasion and excellent judgement.”

He continued: “Dividing my time between Southampton and the South West gives me the opportunity to serve a wide geographical client base. There is no substitute for meeting clients face to face, hearing their story and giving them the chance to know who they are dealing with. Complex medical negligence cases last many years, particularly acting for children with cerebral palsy arising from negligence at birth, and we as solicitors are intimately involved with many aspects of family life over a long period of time. It undoubtedly helps if solicitor and client can establish some sort of rapport from the outset.”

At a time when many lawyers are holding themselves out as specialists in the field of medical negligence, Chris emphasises the importance of selecting a solicitor who really knows what they are doing: “The public face a difficult task, finding a lawyer with the skills and expertise to handle cases of this nature in a world of heavy advertising and commercial competition. An essential starting point is ensuring that your solicitor is a member of the Law Society Accredited Clinical Negligence Panel or AvMA panel, as are all of the partners at Clarke Willmott who deal with this sort of work.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clarke Willmott .