Personal injury law firm adds to portfolio following latest acquisition

Medical negligence and personal injury law firm, Fletchers Group, has acquired Bolton-based Serious Injury Law, for an undisclosed sum.

Serious Injury Law was founded in 1989 and has built a reputation as a leader in representing clients who have sustained severe injuries, achieving numerous multimillion-pound settlements and earning top tier status from the Legal 500.

The practice, which also has a strong proposition in court of protection and clinical negligence, is led by equity partners Tim Walters, Matt Dixon and Ben Priestley.

The Serious Injury Law team will become part of Fletchers Group and the Serious Injury Law brand will be retained, as will the offices in Bolton and Cambridge.

The integration is likely to be completed by May 1, with Caroline Morris, Fletchers’ Director of Serious Injury, taking overall responsibility for the combined serious injury team.

Kate Edwards, Fletchers’ Director of Private Client, will lead the court of protection team, and the clinical negligence lawyers will become part of the wider group clinical negligence team.

Fletchers Group has offices in Manchester, Southport and Leeds. Its CEO, Peter Haden, said the acquisition strengthens the group’s presence in the North West, creates a clear leader in the field, and brings together two teams with highly complementary relationships and capabilities.

He said: “This is an important deal for us, in that it reinforces our leadership in serious personal injury and underscores our strategy to strengthen the group by acquiring exceptional law practices with excellent reputations.

“The combination of our existing serious injury practice with our new colleagues from SIL will create the strongest team in the sector, and we are particularly excited to invest behind the reputation and relationships that Tim, Matt and Ben have developed over recent years.”

He added: “Just as importantly, they share our values in terms of practice excellence, integrity and the privilege of client service. There is no doubt there’s lots we can learn from each other, but we start from the same place on the things that matter most.”

Tim Walters said: “Consolidation in the serious injury market is gathering pace thanks to a wave of reform and subsequent changes to business models which reflect the emerging market landscape. It quickly became clear during our discussions with Peter and the team that combining our team with Fletchers represented the best possible future for our brilliant lawyers, support staff and our clients.

“Becoming part of a bigger group will give our colleagues many more development opportunities and we are excited by the potential for Fletchers to help accelerate our plans for growth. We strongly believe we share a very similar culture and set of values, which will be important as we aim to ensure a smooth integration.”

Fletchers Group was acquired by an affiliate of investment firm Sun European Partners, in October 2021, and since then has added Cycle SOS, Minton Morill, Emsleys’ PI division and Blume, one of the sector’s leading providers of high quality personal injury and clinical negligence work, to its portfolio.