Curtis Law Solicitors

Curtis Law Solicitors: personal injury, clinical negligence and business law across Lancashire and Manchester

Curtis Law Solicitors presents itself as a firm covering both private clients and companies, organised around two broad areas it labels "For You" and "For Business". Its offices are concentrated in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, and its published work spans personal injury litigation, medical negligence, property transactions, family matters and corporate advice.

The firm describes itself as "the caring, trusted legal experts" in its local community, and states that it has won the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards for two consecutive years. It also reports that 98% of clients would recommend it, a figure it attributes to its own client satisfaction survey.

Personal injury and serious injury claims

Personal injury is the largest area set out in the firm's service listing. The caseload described includes road traffic accident claims, slips, trips and falls, accidents at work, serious injury claims and claims against the police. It also covers travel and holiday claims, professional negligence claims against solicitors, inquests and fatal accident claims.

More specific categories appear alongside these: accidents involving children, emergency vehicles and foreign vehicles; motorbike accident claims; accidents involving hit-and-run, uninsured or stolen vehicles; pedestrian accidents; bicycle accidents; public transport claims; and needlestick injuries at work. The firm also lists asbestos compensation, hearing loss and industrial deafness claims, and industrial disease claims.

Clinical and medical negligence

The clinical negligence department handles claims arising from GP treatment, delay and misdiagnosis, and from cancer misdiagnosis. It also covers care and nursing home claims, birth and gynaecological injury, A&E treatment, cosmetic surgery and dental treatment.

Further listed areas include hospital and nursing misdiagnosis and neglect, private surgery and private treatments, orthopaedic surgery claims, medication errors, anaesthetic and extravasation injuries, eye injury and ophthalmic treatment, pressure sores, genetic disease misdiagnosis and mistreatment, and medical product failure.

Published case results give a sense of the department's work. The firm reports £62,000 recovered over the death of an unborn baby, £175,000 for a historical failure to correctly fix and plate a distal radius fracture, and £110,000 for avoidable loss of a kidney and a post-operative hernia following surgical error. It also describes a settlement for a claimant who suffered a complicated spinal injury after A&E staff failed to identify a potentially emergency condition and give appropriate warning advice; the case was handled by Kate Rushton, a solicitor in the clinical negligence and serious injury department.

Property, family and private client work

The conveyancing team deals with residential and commercial property, re-mortgages, new-build purchases, deeds of gift and transfers of equity, plot sales, buy-to-let and Right to Buy. Cavity wall claims are grouped with this area.

Family law covers divorce, wills and probate, financial relief, matters concerning children, separation agreements, Islamic legal services, civil partnership, cohabitation advice, marital agreements, domestic violence and contesting a will. The firm also lists marriage allowance tax rebate claims, and it handles the Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz emissions scandals as named matters.

Housing disrepair has its own section, addressing what the firm means by housing disrepair, compensation claims, why to instruct the firm, how "no win no fee" agreements work, what a claim can include, what evidence is required and how much claimants might expect to receive in repair damages.

Corporate, commercial property and dispute resolution

For business clients, the corporate team covers business sales and purchases, management buyouts and buy-ins, corporate finance, shareholder agreements, purchase or lease of business premises, confidentiality and exclusivity agreements, legal due diligence, heads of terms and restrictive covenants.

Commercial property work includes commercial leases, occupational licences, property finance, deeds of easement, and options and guarantees. Debt recovery and landlord and tenant matters are listed separately, as is professional negligence.

The firm states that its corporate team is regularly instructed on business deals ranging from £200,000 to £10M, including business sales and purchases, corporate refinancing and company restructures. Andrew Bell is identified as a director with overall supervision of the dispute resolution departments across the firm, while Melanie Potts is director and head of civil litigation.

Service indicators and client feedback

The firm publishes a set of performance figures: an average call answering speed of five seconds by its new enquiry teams, an average of 14 minutes spent giving free advice, 30 minutes for each free business consultation, and a 94% rate of enquiries converting to instructed clients. It also cites testimonials, including one client who described being supported "throughout my ordeal" and another who praised a professional and helpful reception team.

Offices in Blackburn, Great Harwood and Manchester

The head office is at Belthorn House, Walker Office Park, Walker Road, Blackburn. The firm also lists a Blackburn office at 26 Limbrick, a Great Harwood office at 6 Blackburn Road, and a Manchester South office at 255 Wilmslow Road. The Blackburn and Great Harwood sites share the telephone number 01254 297130, while the Manchester office uses 0161 248 5898.