Personal Injury Lawyer of the Month: Sarah Townsend
Sarah Townsend is a Chartered Legal Executive in our Personal Injury team. A member of the team for over a decade, Sarah helps clients with a range of personal injury cases. Read on to learn more about Sarah and what she enjoys about her work.
Which areas of the law do you specialise in?
I deal with a wide variety of personal injury matters including accidents at work, road traffic accidents and slips and trips. I also have a lot of experience in claims against untraced drivers for clients who were injured in hit and run accidents.
What do you enjoy about your work?
The most enjoyable thing about my work is helping clients during a difficult and scary time in their lives. Bringing a claim can be a daunting prospect especially when you are recovering from an injury so to be able to advise and help them to make the decisions to bring about the best possible outcome is extremely satisfying. One of my favourite parts of the job is to be able to say goodbye to a client knowing that we have achieved a settlement that will make a real difference to them.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Every settlement is special because it means that clients are able to move on with their lives and hopefully put a difficult and traumatic event behind them; one of my most memorable settlements was for a young man who suffered a severe ankle injury when he was involved in a hit and run. Due to his injuries, he was unable to continue with the career he had trained for but the settlement included money for him to retrain and start working in a new field. It was wonderful to be able to help him move forward with a new career in spite of his injuries.
What’s your favourite thing about working at Hodge Jones & Allen?
I love being part of a team of passionate and talented people who work tirelessly to get the best possible outcomes for their clients. I have been at the firm for over 10 years now and I am so lucky to be surrounded by exceptional lawyers who are always willing to help the junior members of the team to develop and progress with their careers.
Can you tell us about the most interesting case you’ve worked on recently?
All of my cases are interesting in one way or another but I have recently assisted on a claim for a family who lost their husband and father in a fatal accident. Liability was strongly denied but we were ultimately to obtain a settlement. Whilst no amount of money can ever compensate for the loss of a loved one, I hope that the settlement will make their lives easier in the future.
Lastly, when you’re not at work, what do you like to get up to?
Music is one of my favourite things, whether it is going to live shows, singing (not very well) with a choir or just listening to some of my favourites on my ancient iPod. I love going out with friends and family but can also regularly be found curled up in a corner with a book or watching Netfilx!