A solicitor from a Shropshire law firm is officially the best in her field after winning a major national award.
Beth Heath, of Lanyon Bowdler, has been named as the Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year at the Personal Injury Awards, which recognise the excellence of law firms and individuals in the personal injury and medical negligence sectors all over the UK.
Judges said: “The winner of this award is a department head and rising talent in clinical negligence practice, achieving big things in a short space of time. They manage a large team across multiple offices that continues to rank highly.
“They are renowned for a thorough and organised approach, and for their caring and compassionate attitude.”
Brian Evans, managing partner at Lanyon Bowdler, said Beth’s award was richly deserved and a testament to the strength and commitment of the whole clinical negligence team.
He said: “Our congratulations go to Beth on a great win against some stiff competition, including the Chief Assessor of the Law Society’s Clinical Negligence Panel, and the head of medical negligence from Slater & Gordon’s London office. This is a brilliant achievement and is well deserved.
“I know Beth would say that she could not have won this award without the support of her team, so without wishing to detract from Beth’s stellar personal achievement, everyone in the team is a winner for the support they give which enables Beth and our other clinical negligence partners and senior lawyers to do what they do.”
Beth has been a leading voice in recent years dealing with cases involving the maternity services scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals.
She said: “Being named as Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year is a major honour, which I hope will give our clients even more reassurance that Lanyon Bowdler can be trusted with such sensitive cases.
“Clinical negligence cases, particularly ones involving maternity services, are understandably distressing and we always take care to support our clients during the process.
“The motivation behind all cases is a desire to get answers to what went wrong and to help bring about improvements so the same mistakes are not made again.
“That will always remain our priority as we continue to work on behalf of our clients.”