Vincents strengthens personal injury practice with new clinical negligence director

Vincents Solicitors has boosted its personal injury practice with the appointment of Carlos Lopez, a specialist clinical negligence lawyer.

Based in Preston, Carlos will join Vincents’ senior management team as a Director, working alongside Directors of Personal Injury, Olivia Robinson and Phillip Gilmore. He will be responsible for growing the firm’s clinical negligence offering, both locally and nationally including expanding the team.

With 19 years’ experience, Carlos started his career as a barrister before qualifying as a solicitor and is also a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel. His expertise is in catastrophic and serious clinical negligence such as spinal, brain and head injuries, amputation and oncology. He has dealt with a wide range of cases, including claims against GPs, hospitals, consultants and private clinics as well as major settlements such as securing £2.5million for a client whose spine was fractured following a failure to diagnose tuberculosis.

Carlos joins from Birchall Blackburn Law in Preston where he set up and led the firm’s clinical negligence department, which grew to a team of 14. Denise Singleton, also from Birchall Blackburn, will move with him to Vincents as a legal secretary and litigation executive, bringing with her over 10 years’ experience of working with clients affected by clinical negligence.

Speaking about his appointment, he said: “I was attracted to Vincents as it has ambitious plans for its clinical negligence department and is focused on providing the highest levels of client care. My aim is to help the firm achieve its objective of becoming the county’s leading clinical negligence team, as well as helping it become one of the largest local firms in the Lancashire area.

“In addition to establishing a stronger presence locally, we are planning to expand our offering into other regions. The focus will be on helping people that have been severely injured as a result of medical mishaps and incidents, ensuring they have access to expert advice and support to achieve the best possible outcome.”
Phillip Gilmore, Managing Partner and Director of Personal Injury added: “We are making a significant financial investment in our clinical negligence department with plans to further expand it over the next two years.

“Carlos has a particularly strong reputation as one of the region’s leading lawyers in this specialist and complex area of law. His invaluable experience, expertise and local knowledge will ensure we can meet our ambitious growth targets.”