Personal Injury Team

Jeremy Newson

Our Personal Injury Team is headed by Partner Jeremy Newson. Jeremy has extensive experience acting for both defendants and claimants in Personal Injury claims. He now concentrates solely on claimants. In recent years he has developed close links with Poland, and this firm now acts for many Polish clients.

Jeremy travels extensively all over the UK and Europe taking instructions from severely injured clients and their families.

Jeremy is a committed advocate and represents families at Coroners' Inquests. He has also appeared in open court in Poland to assist in determining multiple guardianship applications under Polish law. He made representations on behalf of a client who is in a persistent vegetative state.

jeremy.newson@hill-abbott.co.uk

Ronald Clarke

Ronald is the head of Hill & Abbott’s Employment Law Department. He started his legal career in 1981 and spent 24 years dealing with cases on behalf of Trade Union members before joining Hill & Abbott in 2005. Ronald specialises in Personal Injury and Employment Law. He has a particular interest in the Law relating to workplace injuries, unfair dismissal, discrimination at work, redundancy, equal pay claims and TUPE disputes. Ronald also drafts and advises in relation to employment contracts. More recently he has developed an interest in bullying, harassment, victimisation and stress related claims.

Ronald is happy to advise both employers and employees in relation to their rights, obligations and liabilities in all aspects of personal injury and employment law.

Since starting at Hill & Abbott Ronald has used is expertise to secure substantial damages for many of his clients.

ronald.clarke@hill-abbott.co.uk

Caroline Kempster

Caroline is a personal injury and clinical negligence specialist with over twenty five years experience. She has worked with Hill & Abbott since 2001.

Caroline has a special interest in brain injury cases and has experience of working with the Official Solicitor. She has recently won cases where compensation for two of her head injury clients was agreed at £1.3 million and £2.75 million. She has also recently helped a victim of clinical negligence settle her case for £2.5million.

Caroline acts for clients from all over the UK and Europe. One of her clients immigrated to New Zealand during the running of his claim meaning that the trust element had to be dealt with under New Zeland Law. Caroline is used to dealing with claims with an international flavour. Caroline is also currently acting for clients from Poland and Lithuania. Caroline works closely with head of department Jeremy Newson to make sure seriously injured clients are visited at home or in hospital if necessary anywhere in the world.

caroline.kempster@hill-abbott.co.uk

Stephen Walls

Stephen has specialised in personal injury law since joining a niche practice in London in 1990. Since then he has dealt with all kinds of personal injury work from holiday accidents to clinical negligence and fatal accident claims. He was head of the personal injury department of a firm in Kent before joining Hill & Abbott in 2002.

Stephen runs many fully contested claims and has achieved significant victories at trial.

He is married to Jacqueline, a teacher, and has a son at school, where he is a governor. He plays guitar and keyboards to relax.

stephen.walls@hill-abbott.co.uk

Andrew Wales

Andrew joined Hill & Abbott in late 2007 as a litigator.

He has nearly twenty years experience in all types of personal injury and disease claims and has successfully recovered large monetary awards for clients. He is currently instructed on a variety of claims including fatalities, sexual abuse and claims against the Motor Insurers Bureau.

Andrew began specialising in personal injury work with a leading trade union firm where he also practised in criminal law.

Andrew is popular with the younger members of the team for his patience in passing on his wealth of experience.

In his spare time Andrew has said he would like to model West Ham United Football Club shirts. Our commercial team have declined to act for him on a "no win no fee basis"!

andrew.wales@hill-abbott.co.uk

Richard Penn

Richard has over 15 years experience in Personal Injury law and Civil Litigation. He joined Hill & Abbott in 2008 having spent the previous 10 years heading the Personal Injury department of a central London law firm.

Richard deals with a range of litigious work which includes substantial personal injury claims, clinical negligence, professional negligence claims against solicitors, accountants and surveyors, property disputes and contractual claims. Richard acts for many of his clients through legal expenses insurers.

He is married with 2 children and enjoys skiing, golf and football in his spare time. He is also a long suffering Spurs fan.

richard.penn@hill-abbott.co.uk

Kerry Huggins

Kerry joined us in 2002 and has progressed from paralegal to supervisor.Kerry has brought a wealth of knowledge from her ten years in management prior to joining us, which both her and the PI team are able to utilise on a daily basis.

Kerry's knowledge of retail businesses is invaluable in assisting clients with claims against supermarkets and shops.

Kerry is often a new client's first contact with the PI department and she enjoys talking to people from all walks of life.

During her spare time she is currently studying but when not doing this she enjoys spending time with her husband and socialising with her friends.

kerry.huggins@hill-abbott.co.uk

Andre Pazik

Andre Pazik has worked for Hill & Abbott since 2007. He is responsible for helping us deliver legal services to Eastern Europeans and particularly Poles.

Born in Poland Andre was a pilot in the Polish Air force during the Cold War (we tease him about being our enemy!) before coming to England in 1982 as a refugee from the communist regime.

His varied career includes telecommunications, building and running small businesses. For many years he has been active in the Polish ex-pat community helping people with all the issues that arise when living in a different country.

Andre is multi lingual speaking Polish, English, Russian and some German. His hobbies include pretending to learn the piano accordion.

andre.pazik@hill-abbott.co.uk