When life hits hard, in steps Katie Beddoes.
A partner at Tilly Bailey & Irvine (TBI Law), Katie and her team handle – amongst other things – personal injury claims.
“It can be anything from traffic accidents to slipping in an aisle at Tesco,” said Katie.
“It ultimately doesn’t matter; If you’ve suffered and it wasn’t your fault, then we are here to try and ease that pain and ensure you don’t also suffer financially.”
With fourteen fee-earning staff, backed up by an impressive admin team, the department is a key part of what is one of the North East’s largest, oldest and most successful law firms.
For well over a century, TBI Law has been helping clients with every aspect of the law – from criminal defence, to will writing.
Having started in Hartlepool, it has grown across Teesside and County Durham. Last year, it expanded into Sunderland.
That’s where Katie is now based – and she’s busy.
“At any one time, our department has hundreds of claims ongoing, with a varied caseload,” she added.
And busy is the key word throughout the Sunderland branch, since TBI Law merged with Scanlans last Spring. And not least because word is spreading about the personal injury team’s expertise.
“For years, TBI has been a really respected regional force but increasingly, our clients are Mark Ellis spread across the country,” revealed Katie.
“We are getting leads from London, Wales – you name it. And I think a big driver is the success we have and the significance of the cases we work on.”
They include some of the biggest cases in the North East, among them the Infected Blood Enquiry and the Medomsley Detention Centre – cases that have dominated the news agenda in recent years.
And while TBI Law’s highly experienced personal injury team take on cases both big and small, they won’t waste your time.
“We work on a no-win, no-fee basis, and the nature of personal injury claims – particularly clinical negligence – means they are incredibly difficult cases to win because of their complexity and how long they take to conclude,” said Durham-born Katie, who has over two decades of experience.
“We know the process can take a toll on the claimant, that’s why if we take it on, we feel we can deliver a result – and we also do all the leg work.”
For instance, with clinical negligence cases, Katie and her team do everything from securing medical records to obtaining medical expertise to back-up a claim.
“We handle all sorts of cases; Traffic accidents, holiday sickness, industrial accidents and even deaths in custody – our workload is incredibly varied, and that means our skillset and expertise is too,” added Katie.
And the award-winning firm has a wealth of in house expertise to tap into to help your claim.
That includes John Hall, a national authority on clinical negligence, along with senior parters Mark Ellis – an industrial disease expert – and Kay Ditcham, the department’s head, who offers decades of experience within personal injury and industrial disease work.
And while TBI Law may be making national Kay Ditcham John Hall inroads, most of their clients remain in the North East – thanks to good old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
“A lot of our cases are walk-ins, which is increasingly rare, but speaks volumes for our reputation in this region,” added Katie.
“We are firmly established in Teesside, and thanks to the Sunderland office, our presence is really growing further north.
“A big factor is the fact we are a full-service law firm, and our team’s size and skills mean we can offer so much more than other firms and we can refer internally.
“More than anything, we deliver results – and we always have our clients’ interests at heart.”
www.tbilaw.co.uk