David Tomlinson is one of the founding
partners of Barratt Goff & Tomlinson.
He has represented clients with spinal cord injury for the last 28
years. He is a keen supporter of the SIA.
He is the Secretary of the Spinal Cord Injury Special Interest Group of
the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
We spoke to David about his
approach to spinal cord injury claims.
Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation
“There is no getting away from
the fact that life after spinal cord injury is horrendously expensive and those
who have been injured due to somebody else’s fault should get the maximum
compensation that the law allows (and a bit more if possible!). However, when dealing with a SCI client who
has suffered life changing injuries the compensation, at least in the early
days, is not the issue. The experienced
lawyer should be concentrating his/her efforts upon rehabilitation and
everything that is required to manage the process of transferring from the
spinal injury unit to home. The
discharge process is always going to be a key moment for those who have spinal
cord injury and if the lawyer is able to put in place the best possible
accommodation, to arrange with case managers for the best possible care and
support, to make available vehicles, wheelchairs, specialist equipment and
access to post-discharge therapies then the quality of the clients life is
going to be immeasurably improved. Then,
and only then, can the lawyers efforts move towards maximising the compensation
but with rehabilitation always being at the forefront.”
SIA 40th
Anniversary
“All at Barratt Goff &
Tomlinson recognise the immense contribution made by the Spinal Injuries
Association over the last 40 years and we look forward to the SIA going from
strength to strength”.
To learn more about Barratt Goff
& Tomlinson go to www.bgtsolicitors.co.uk
or e-mail Tomlinson@bgtsolicitors.co.uk.
