Triple boost for Ward Hadaway’s health team | 24 February 10

THE healthcare team at law firm Ward Hadaway has had a triple boost with the recruitment of a trio of new solicitors.

Healthy start – (from left) Liz Nicholson, Helen Johnston and Claire Daly have joined the healthcare team at law firm Ward Hadaway.

Helen Johnston, Claire Daly and Liz Nicholson join the team in the wake of two major appointments in the health sector.

At the end of 2009, Ward Hadaway was chosen to supply legal services to two major NHS buying consortia, one covering the North East and the other covering the North West.

The appointments to the legal panels of the NHS Procurement North East (PRONE) scheme and the North West Collaborative Commercial Agency (NWCCA) followed an appointment to the equivalent in Yorkshire – the Yorkshire and the Humber NHS Commercial Procurement Collaborative (YHCPC) – and means the firm provides expert legal advice to NHS Trusts right across the North.

The appointments of Helen, Claire and Liz will help with this expanded workload for the firm.

Helen specialises in defending personal injury claims for the National Health Service Litigation Authority and NHS organisations.

She has a particular interest in employers’ liability claims and has negotiated settlements in high value and complex cases, as well as acting in numerous lower value cases.

Claire has a Masters degree in Clinical Negligence from Northumbria University and was previously at law firm DWF in Leeds.

She has worked on clinical negligence cases for the NHS Litigation Authority and NHS Trusts and has more than four years’ litigation experience including high value and complex claims.

Liz was previously a trainee solicitor at Ward Hadaway and formally qualified as a solicitor in September 2009.

Jeffrey Keeble, partner and head of healthcare at Ward Hadaway, said: “It is great to welcome Helen, Claire and Liz to the healthcare team.

“They are all keen, enthusiastic and highly capable lawyers who will make a real difference to the team and be of great value to our clients across the country.”

As well as its successes in the North, Ward Hadaway was also reappointed by the NHS Litigation Authority last year non-clinical legal services for a further three-year term following another successful competitive tender win.

Ward Hadaway is one of only six firms in the UK to be on the panel, which was reduced from nine firms.

In total, the firm currently carries out work for more than 60 NHS clients from the Scottish Borders to the South-East.

Ward Hadaway has advised on a number of ground-breaking projects in the healthcare sector, including the first pharmacy services outsourcing in the NHS and the North’s first transfer of services from two Primary Care Trusts to an NHS Foundation Trust.

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