Northern Ireland

HF Northern Ireland are now established as the number one defence firm in the region, representing numerous insurers. Our expertise includes working on cases from recoveries for insurers to dealing with multi-million pound catastrophic injury claims. We have been at the forefront of developments in litigation in Northern Ireland for many years and continue to lead the way in providing guidance and assistance to insurer clients. Our Northern Ireland office is headed by Matthew Fitzpatrick who has dealt with some of the largest personal injury claims ever settled in NI and has considerable experience in proactive and pragmatic negotiations.

Pre-action assistance and advice

The team often provides pre-litigation assistance to clients whose cases are a pre-issue stage. The court rules in Northern Ireland mean that claimant solicitors often do not disclose documentation at the pre-issue stage, making it difficult for insurers to reserve and consider their files accordingly. To counter this, we have pioneered and implemented bespoke strategies that enable insurers to gain information pre-issue and allow them to set strategies that combat issues such as exaggeration of claims and fraud.

Tailored strategies

Using the varied experience of our solicitors, we take an extremely proactive approach to claims allowing our insurer clients to be at the forefront when combating over exaggerated claims, fraud and credit hire. In order to control indemnity spend in a complex claims’ environment, it has become increasingly important to ‘know your opponents’. Their tactics are constantly evolving, so it’s important that we work closely with our clients to identify opponent behaviours to enable us to develop and deploy the most effective strategies.

Our Expertise

UK & International Casualty

We provide early advice in complex injury claims to ensure that our clients are in the best position to defend potential claims arising from incidents involving serious injuries. We can also initiate early investigations on our clients behalf about quantum and causation. We have often succeeded in resolving complex claims pre-litigation with early pro-active engagement with our opponents.

Employer's Liability / Public Liability

We have vast experience in dealing with both employer’s liability and public liability matters ranging from high value specialist claims to smaller value and less complex claims. Despite the value of the claim, we are astute to the need for early investigations either at a pre-litigation stage in the form of liability investigations, fraud concerns and ultimately if the matter can be dealt with prior to litigation.

Recoveries

We have in-depth knowledge of the court system in Northern Ireland and more importantly, the Judiciary. We know which points are likely to be accepted by particular judges and therefore, which cases stand the greatest prospect of success. We advise our clients on the merits of the claim, the risk of any adverse costs and our experience means that we can triage claims quickly.

Large Loss

We are experienced in dealing with large loss claims arising from motor claims, employer’s liability claims and public liability claims. We provide a comprehensive action plan to enable our clients to take control of investigations at the earliest opportunity and liaise with key stakeholders at an early stage to encourage collaboration and to ensure effective investigation.

Credit Hire

We have an enviable reputation within the credit hire arena in Northern Ireland and are shaking up how these cases are approached within the jurisdiction. These claims are often litigated very quickly, however, upon receipt of proceedings we are extremely expeditious in preparing initial advice and proactive in implementing our recommended strategies.

Disease

HF boasts extensive experience and proficiency in handling a wide spectrum of disease-related matters. Our capabilities cover defence representation across various industries and professions. Our expertise extends to defending claims made by workers in industries across Northern Ireland and the UK, including factory workers, welders, and shipyard workers.

Counter Fraud

Challenging fraud is where HF excels and in Northern Ireland, we have the benefit of experienced solicitors who have worked in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who can provide an invaluable insight into how fraud cases are handled within each jurisdiction. We do not subscribe to the traditional model of simply relying upon a robust counsel on the date of the hearing. Instead, we robustly gather evidence from the outset with proactive investigations being undertaken by our intel team.

Contact us

For expert legal advice from real people in our specialist teams, get in touch – we look forward to hearing from you.