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Another senior appointment for growing specialist legal team in London

Malcolm Johnson

Malcolm Johnson joins the senior solicitor team at Hudgell’s London office

The appointment of a ‘well respected litigator in the field of child abuse and safeguarding issues’ reflects Hudgell Solicitors’ [1] growth in a ‘sensitive but hugely important niche area of work’, says chief executive Amanda Stevens.

Malcolm Johnson joins the senior solicitor team at Hudgell’s London office, bringing more than 20 years’ experience of supporting children and vulnerable adults who have been survivors of abuse.

He has 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 founder member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL), which was established some 20 years ago to help survivors of abuse, and as a Solicitor Advocate and the co-ordinator of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ (APIL) Child Injury Special Interest Group, Mr Johnson’s career has been focussed around providing leading legal support for those who suffer abuse.

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

‘A respected leader in providing legal support to abuse survivors’

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.

“We know Malcolm’s expertise will prove invaluable to us as we look to build on the work we have developed in recent years, helping us to further grow this important aspect of our support to people who need our legal expertise.

Hudgell Solicitors has cemented its position as a leading specialist in handling abuse compensation claims by representing clients in a series of high-profile cases involving significant numbers of abuse survivors.

It recently secured damages settlements from Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust for young boys abused by paedophile doctor Myles Bradbury, who is currently serving a lengthy  jail sentence for abusing 18 victims aged between 10 and 16 over a four-and-a-half year period during his time working for Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

In addition, the firm successfully led damages claims on behalf of the families of Bradbury’s child victims, resulting in 15 successful cases in which compensation has now been awarded. Settlements have also been made on behalf of a number of adults who alleged a former Shropshire GP abused them as child patients in the 1970s.

Qualifying as a solicitor 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.

“This is a firm which has a well-established reputation for helping survivors of abuse, something consistently demonstrated in the cases specialists have led over the past few years.

“Hudgell has consistently demonstrated its dedication to supporting children and vulnerable people across a wide variety of safeguarding incidents situations. I am very much looking forward to working with Renu Daly and Victoria Neale.

“Their work in the Addenbrooke’s case of Myles Bradbury, and the Whitchurch GP Gerard Rogerson, has shown how the department is able to lead in major child abuse cases.”

“Safeguarding failures are constantly being exposed by the media, not only within the family and state-run care homes, but also in unregistered schools and in the work of overseas aid charities. 

“I have no doubt that some of our work supporting abuse survivors will be focussed on these new areas in the coming years.”

Mr Johnson, 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.