A HALIFAX firm of solicitors has been ranked top in the UK for its asbestos work.
The 2009 edition of Chambers Legal Directory lists John Pickering and Partners LLP, in Clare Road, in the top tier of firms dealing with industrial disease cases.
The directory is an internationally acknowledged guide that ranks the foremost spec
ialist law firms.
It described company as having an "enviable reputation" and was "acclaimed for its track record and expertise in leading many important industrial disease cases."
Its partners were all hands-on asbestos claim litigators which ensured the highest standards in every case.
Paul Glanville, a partner at the Halifax office, said: "It is very pleasing that the quality of our work in dealing with asbestos cases is recognised on a national basis."
The specialist asbestos compensation practice has represented claimants in the leading test cases in the last 10 years.
It has highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to sufferers of mesothelioma – a form of cancer caused by previous exposure to asbestos.
The Sylvia Barker case prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006, to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims.
And the firm represented two of the three claimants in an appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.
It also represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim were featured in the 1982 Yorkshire Television documentary, Alice: A Fight For Life.
The programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of the victims of asbestos.
The full article contains 291 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
