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Listen to our lawyers and experts, in a series of podcasts, which will cover many aspects of law in England and Wales. It’s our aim to show you that the law isn’t scary and neither are our lawyers.

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Client Testimonials

The one to one connection with Mrs Julie Langford. Always very professional whilst extremely friendly, putting us at ease. 

- Mrs Maureen Angela Thomas, Telford

Impressed by the pro-active updates and feedback we were given regarding progress, and speedy responses to emails.

- Mr N Barclay, Oswestry

Everything has been professional, efficient and courteous throughout and we are very pleased, both with the service and with the eventual outcome of our case. Everything was first class and exceeded our expectations. Thank you again for providing such splendid service. It is really appreciated.

- Mr N J & Dr S J Browne, Llanfyllin

Using Lanyon Bowdler twice for two separate issues being completely different and both were dealt with in a complete efficient manner. My questions were always answered with honesty and explaination.

- Mr G Martin & Mrs L Rees, Bromsgrove

The service provided was excellent. I attended the Oswestry office to provide my ID and staff there were welcoming. The matter was dealt with efficiently and I was kept updated at each stage. Would use you again.

- Jane Rosalind Baker, Wrexham

Very helpful and friendly, kept us up to date at every step. Quick and efficient, we wouldn't hesitate to use Lanyon Bowdler again! 

- M Teleki & S Lewis, Oswestry

Always easy to talk to and Kaylee was always ready to explain what we did not understand.

- Margaret Davies, Oswestry

Road Traffic Accident 4th February, 2021.  I would like to express my sincere thanks to Karen Clarke who took on this case. She has worked with dedication and efficiency throughout the last 2 years, giving advice and recommendations to enable this claim to be finalised very satisfactorily. Communication has been clear and precise throughout. Hopefully, I would not need to call on these services again but, if necessary, would not hesitate to use Lanyon Bowdler solicitors again. With very many, grateful thanks.

- Joyce, via Review Solicitors

Solicitors in Shropshire, Herefordshire & Wales

 

We are one of the most recognised law firms in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and North Wales, and synonymous with excellence. We are able to offer a wide range of pricing options including fixed fees and service level guarantees.

We are recognised by the leading UK legal directory, having been recommended by the 2023 edition of The Legal 500. The teams acknowledged include: clinical negligence, corporate & commercial, commercial litigation, contentious trusts & probate, debt recovery, education, employment, personal injury, agriculture & estates (in the West Midlands and Wales), family, court of protection, trusts & probate, and commercial property. Our agricultural solicitors team is recognised in Tier One for the West Midlands as well as our clinical negligence team.

The 2023 edition of Chambers UK ranks the clinical negligence and personal injury teams in Band 1. The private client team is ranked in Band 1 in their High Net Worth Guide.

In May 2016 Lanyon Bowdler merged with the long-established Hereford Law firm of Beaumonts Solicitors. Our continued expansion, our network of offices and expertise, position us ideally to service the legal needs of individuals and corporate clients throughout Shropshire, Herefordshire, North Wales and along the Marches, as well as in the neighbouring counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Powys, and Mid Wales

Whether your team is your family, your business, your community, or all three, our people are warm, friendly professionals who can give you peace of mind that whatever opportunities and challenges come your way, we can help you achieve the best outcome.

So whether you are breaking new ground, overcoming a challenge, or simply getting your life in order, the team at Lanyon Bowdler can support you with the very best legal advice delivered locally by nice people.

Lanyon Bowdler; we’re on your team.

Recent Videos

Team Work Helps Property Developers Achieve their Goals

Property developer Galliers Homes build beautiful homes across Shropshire, this video demonstrates how Lanyon Bowdler work with the team to ensure all the legal requirements are met, efficiently and with a smile. Our people, on their team.

A Mother Talks About the Challenges Faced Due to Cerebral Palsy Following a Birth Injury

Her daughter from Shropshire was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy following a birth injury, Lanyon Bowdler are working with the family to ensure compensation is recovered to satisfy future needs. The monies are controlled by the Court of Protection.  

Watch Our LB Bear Video

Lanyon Bowdler Solicitors offer local, accessible, legal support for you, your family, and your business. We work for local, national, and international clients. We have offices throughout Shropshire, Herefordshire & North Wales, so are able to act for clients across the Midlands, and indeed anywhere in England & Wales.

Matty Watton Talks About How Lanyon Bowdler Helped Rebuild His Life

Lanyon Bowdler, assisted Matty Watton after part of his left leg had to be amputated as a result of a 30 tonne tipper truck toppling onto him.

Surviving Brain Injury - The Journey

Around 200 delegates, from across the country, attended this conference held at Theatre Severn in Shropshire in March 2016. Here is footage from some of the speakers following this successful event. Guest speakers included medical lead from the Midlands Air Ambulance, senior research sister from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Dr Andrew Worthington from Headwise, Alison McNamara from AJ Case Management, chief executive of Headway Shropshire, occupational therapist Jayne Brake and Pauline Holbrook from The Movement Centre, in addition, there were talks from members of the team at Lanyon Bowdler as well as clients bravely sharing their stories.

Latest News

15 Mar 2024

Beware the Risks of Associate Physicians in the NHS

While the majority of healthcare professionals in the NHS are highly skilled and dedicated, there is growing concern about the role of physician associates within the NHS, and the risks they pose to patient safety.

The role of physician associates is relatively "new" in England and Wales, although the first physician associate roles were formally introduced in 2003 in the NHS.

Physician associates support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. They typically work in general practice in GP surgeries, but also can be found in hospital in acute medicine and emergency medicine. They often work under the supervision of fully qualified consultants and are involved in various clinical activities, including:

  • taking medical histories from patients
  • performing physical examinations
  • diagnosing illnesses
  • seeing patients with long-term chronic conditions
  • performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
  • analysing test results
  • developing management plans
  • providing health promotion and disease prevention advice for patients.

Physician associates undergo medical training for two years, but do not have the same level of experience and expertise as consultants. This can sometimes lead to gaps in knowledge or judgment, which can increase the likelihood of medical errors occurring.

One of the primary risks associated with associate physicians is the potential for mistakes to occur due to their limited experience and supervision. These mistakes can range from misdiagnoses and medication errors to procedural complications. In some cases, these errors can have serious consequences for patients, leading to prolonged illness, disability, or even death.

A recent high profile example occurred in 2022 when actress Emily Chesterton died after being misdiagnosed twice by a physician associate who misdiagnosed her as suffering from a sprained ankle, when in fact she had suffered a pulmonary embolism. She subsequently collapsed and sadly died.

Physician associates also face challenges in managing complex cases or identifying rare medical conditions due to their lack of experience. This can result in delays in diagnosis and treatment, which can exacerbate patients’ conditions and lead to poorer outcomes.

While it is essential to recognise the valuable role that physician associates play within the NHS, it is also crucial for patients to take precautions to minimise the risks associated with their care. Patients should feel empowered to ask questions about their treatment plans, seek second opinions if necessary, and ensure that they fully understand any medications or procedures prescribed to them by the physician associate. Additionally, healthcare institutions must prioritise adequate supervision and support for physician associates to help mitigate the risks of errors occurring, and ensuring that robust systems are in place for reviewing and addressing any adverse events that occur.

If you have suffered a poor or adverse outcome due to a physician associate and wish to have free and confidential advice, you can contact our specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers.

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12 Mar 2024

Interim Payments of Damages

One of the features of clinical negligence cases is the almost unavoidable amount of time they take to resolve, very often measured in years, with one or two exceptions. Take a claimant with a clinical negligence case where liability is admitted but settlement is going to take some time. That might be because, for example, expert evidence is awaited and is many months away, or the claimant is too young for the financial value to be determined with reasonable certainty and the case needs to stay ‘on ice’ for a period of time to see how injuries develop.

How then to deal with the more immediate problems of money?

If you are unable to work either because of your own injuries or because of the care needs of a loved one, financial pressures can be very significant. Perhaps there are certain items of equipment, aids or therapies that may be helpful but which are particularly expensive and beyond financial reach at present, or perhaps adapted accommodation is needed urgently. The solution in appropriate cases is an interim payment of damages. A good lawyer should recognise when an interim payment of damages may be appropriate and advise you accordingly.

What is an interim payment of damages?

In short, it is an up-front payment of part of your damages whilst the case is still ongoing. It requires your lawyer to have a reasonable idea of the minimum financial value of the case, and for a collaborative approach to be taken by a defendant, particularly if the case has not been issued in Court. If you are in the position of Court proceedings having been issued and served, then an application can be made for the Court to order an interim payment if the defendant is not prepared to agree one.

How much can you get?

As you might expect, the answer is “it depends”. The precise ins and outs of an interim payment depend on the facts and circumstances of each case, so there is no ‘one size fits all’ method of approaching it. What we can say for sure based on the law around interim payments of damages is that the amount being requested does have to be a reasonable proportion of a conservative estimate of what you are likely to receive in damages if the case were to go to trial. So in practical terms, your lawyer should take the likely range of financial values (based on the available evidence), make a decision on what is a conservative estimate within that range, and then seek a reasonable proportion of that amount.

Are there any other considerations?

Well, yes! Your lawyer should be sign-posting you for advice about the effect an interim payment of damages might have on any means-tested benefits you get (or may get in future). Depending on the size of the interim payment being proposed, it may be appropriate to recommend that you get independent financial advice about investing it. If the case is one of catastrophic injury (for example brain injury, spinal cord injury or an amputation) then it will be important to consider whether it might affect the structure of the final damages payment at the end of the case, which can be a lump sum or a mixture of lump sum and annual payment for life (called a Periodical Payment Order or ‘PPO’). In a similar vein, if the injured party doesn’t have mental capacity to manage their own financial affairs then the Court may want a professional deputy to be appointed to manage the money.

It’s a complicated but important point, and it requires a good lawyer to steer you through it. That’s where we come in, for advice please contact our specialist team or email info@lblaw.co.uk.

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07 Mar 2024

Carer’s Leave

New regulations will come into force on 6 April 2024 that will provide employees with the right to take up to one week of statutory unpaid carer’s leave in any 12-month period to care for, or arrange care for, dependants with long-term care needs.

A person is a "dependant" for these purposes if they:

  • Are a spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the employee.
  • Live in the same household as the employee, otherwise than by reason of being the employee's boarder, employee, lodger or tenant, or reasonably rely on the employee to provide or arrange care.

A dependant has a "long-term care need" for these purposes if any of the following apply:

  • They have an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months.
  • They have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
  • They require care for a reason connected with their old age.

To be eligible for carer’s leave, an employee will need to provide advance notice (which need not be in writing) of the longer of (i) three days or (ii) twice the number of days as the period of leave requested. An employer may waive the notice requirement where the other requirements of the regulations have been met, however

The amount of leave is determined by the employee’s normal working pattern. For those with fixed normal working hours, a week’s leave matches the period they are usually required to work. For an employee with a variable work pattern, the calculation is based on an average of the work periods over the preceding 12-month period. If the employee has been employed for less than 52 weeks, the calculation is based on the entire period of employment; or, if the employee has been employed for less than one week, a period equal in duration to the period the employee is expected to work in that week.

Eligible employees will be able to take the leave in increments of half days or full days – which need not be consecutive – or as a single, full week.

An employer cannot require an employee to supply evidence in relation to a request for carer’s leave before granting the leave.

An employer will be permitted to postpone an employee’s leave if it considers that the business would be unduly disrupted by the absence. However, to do so, it must notify the employee as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than the earlier of seven days after the employee’s notice was given to the employer, or before the earliest day or part day requested in the employee’s notice. The employer will also need to consult with the employee and reschedule the leave to commence no later than one month after the earliest day or part day of the employee’s request.

During carer’s leave, the employee will retain the benefit of their terms and conditions of employment, except for wages / salary. The employee will also be bound by any obligations arising under those terms and conditions.

After taking carer’s leave, the employee will be entitled to return to the job in which they were employed before the absence, with the same seniority, pension rights, and not less favourable terms and conditions; and employees will be protected from being subjected to detriment or dismissal on the grounds of taking, seeking to take, or because the employer believed that the employee was likely to take, carer’s leave.

Where an employee has a contractual right to carer’s leave in addition to the statutory right, they will not be permitted to exercise both separately. Instead, the employee may take advantage of whichever right is more favourable in any particular respect.

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Latest Case Study

01 Feb 2024

Death of Young Mother of Three Could Have Been Avoided

Kate, a 34 year old mother of three, presented to A&E at Wrexham Maelor Hospital with a seven day history of diar...

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30 Nov 2022

Hospital Missed Key Symptoms Leading to Life Changing Injury

Cauda Equina Syndrome

This claim settled by Laura Weir arises from the delay in diagnosis ...

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17 Jun 2022

Misfiled Radiology Report Causes Catastrophic Harm

Mr L originally presented to Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) in 2011 with suspected kidney stones. H...

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