Firm hire: Malcolm Johnson

Hudgell Solicitors has appointmented Malcolm Johnson to their senior solicitor team. Chief executive Amanda Stevens notes that Malcolm is a ‘well respected litigator in the field of child abuse and safeguarding issues.’

He brings more than 20 years of experience supporting children and vulnerable adults who have been survivors of abuse and a track record of recovering substantial settlements across a wide range of cases, having led cases against local authorities for failure to take children into care and against foster carers and children’s homes for abuse.

More recently he was instructed in cases involving breach of privacy claims brought by children and adults, together with cases involving genetic and neurological damage arising from sexual abuse.

Malcolm is founding member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL), which was established some 20 years ago to help survivors of abuse, and a Solicitor Advocate and the co-ordinator of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ (APIL) Child Injury Special Interest Group.

He is also one of the authors of Child Abuse Compensation Claims, published by Jordans, which is the definitive legal textbook in this area.

Commenting on Malcolm’s appointment, Amanda said: ’We are delighted that Malcolm has agreed to join our team given his huge experience in this sensitive but growing area of work. He is extremely well respected in this important niche area of specialist litigation and has led the way for many years in terms of campaigning for law reforms to ensure a better process for survivors, and a swift and effective legal system for those who have been let down.

’His approach and dedication to doing more for those he represents sits very well with our ethos of not just simply being lawyers who manage individual claims, but as a firm of people who are passionate about influencing changes which bring better results for all those we represent, essentially working hard at all times to make real justice more accessible.

Qualifying in 1994, Malcolm was one of the first solicitors to develop a particular expertise in recovering compensation on behalf of victims of abuse against their individual abusers, by the use of freezing injunctions and charging orders.

He obtained a substantial compensation settlement for a client against her abuser within six months of taking on the case, and has often run civil and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) claims together, as a result of which a number of his clients have obtained substantial compensation using both routes.

Commenting on his appointment Malcolm said ’Having been privileged to work for a large number of clients including victims of abuse and neglect, whether as children or vulnerable adults, I am delighted to be joining Hudgell Solicitors.’

Malcolm previously worked as Senior Associate for BL Claims and is currently co-ordinating the Claimants’ Group on the Historic Abuse Litigation Forum, an initiative set up to look at ways of improving the litigation process in child abuse compensation claims.

His expertise extends across claims against the Motor Insurers Bureau and he is the co-author of Claims against the MIB published by the Law Society. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia of Insurance Law, and Jordan’s Personal Injury Practice and Precedents, where he writes the section on children.

He also advises a number of charities who represent children in care and care leavers. His latest book, An Advocate’s Guide to Complaints in England is to be published soon.