Coodes Solicitors clinches national win at prestigious Personal Injury Awards

Coodes Solicitors, one of the South West’s longest established law firms, has won the Clinical Negligence Team of the Year award at this year’s national Personal Injury Awards.

This is a huge achievement for the law firm, which has a network of offices across Cornwall and Devon, winning against nine other shortlisted firms. This win, in recognition of the teams accredited experts and dedication to client care, is especially exciting as the team were shortlisted for the award the two previous years.

The firm had also been shortlisted for two other awards this year; Partner and Department Manager Rachel Pearce for Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year and Outstanding Case of the Year.

The Personal Injury Awards, held on 28 November in Manchester, saw around 500 professionals come together to highlight and celebrate individuals and organisations across the sector. Team members Rachel Pearce, Julie Hatton and Sharon Parsons attended the event and accepted the award on behalf of the team.

In its entries, Coodes highlighted the team’s reputation for handling difficult and high-value claims, with expertise in a wide range of claims including birth injuries, catastrophic neurological injuries and amputations. Their ‘human-first’ approach to client care, making sure clients receive a sympathetic service with a focus on helping them rebuild their lives, was also emphasised. The judges were also impressed with Coodes’ growth which put the firm in the top 4% of UK law firms. The team contributed to this with over 10% of revenue with only 5% of headcount.

This concludes a bumper year of awards for Coodes Clinical Negligence Team. Earlier this year, the Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Team won team of the year at the Cornwall Law Society Awards. Rachel Pearce was also highly commended at the Devon and Somerset Law Society awards this year whilst Julie Hatton won Litigation Lawyer of the Year in the Cornwall Law Society awards 2024.

The Clinical Negligence Team have also been recognised in the Legal 500 directory, distinguished for its ‘excellent reputation’. The Chambers and Partners Guide 2025 ranks the Clinical Negligence Team as Band 3 for the third year running, recognising the team’s expertise in a range of claims and their ability to “explain the process in a jargon-free way”, their empathy and hard work to “leave no stone unturned when investigating”.

The team supports the local community through running specialist free-of-charge drop-in clinics across the region, to give clients easy access to expert legal support and guidance to overcome the difficulty of accessing legal support in remote regions of the counties.

Rachel Pearce, Head of the Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence team, said “I’m so proud that the team won the Clinical Negligence Team of the Year award, after being shortlisted last year. Winning this award is an extraordinary honour that reflects the dedication, expertise, and compassion our team brings to every single case and client. This achievement underscores our unwavering commitment to justice, our specialist expertise, and our dedication to our clients.

“This national award is a fantastic achievement not just for the team but the whole firm. We know our team is small but more than packs a punch against the much larger national firms. I am inspired to continue setting the highest standards for excellence in our clinical negligence work.”