Hilary Meredith Solicitors sponsors Paralympic tennis star

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1 HM News The quarterly newsletter by Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd January 2013 Welcome to the January issue of HM News. The start of a new year is always a good time to reflect on the past twelve months and look forward to the year ahead. At Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd 2012 was a very busy year. Throughout the year, we continued to do what we are best at helping hundreds of injury victims to recover compensation, while at all times remaining committed to providing the utmost professional care and assistance. Whether handling accidents at work, serious injury claims or proceedings for military accidents and occupational disease, we never lose sight of our priority the client and their wellbeing. In 2013, it will be more of the same working tirelessly for people who have suffered personal injury through no fault of their own. Thanks for taking the time to read this issue. And remember, if you refer a personal injury accident case to the firm you ll receive 200 subject to terms and conditions. Have a great Hilary Meredith Solicitors sponsors Paralympic tennis star Hilary Meredith Solicitors has signed a sponsorship deal with Paralympic tennis player Jamie Burdekin. A former Marine, Liverpudlian Jamie was seriously injured in car accident in 2000, leaving him wheelchair-bound and unable to walk again. After 10 months of rehabilitation at the Southport Spinal Injury Unit he began to attend wheelchair tennis sessions at a centre in the Wirral. Jamie has played the sport seriously since 2005, travelling globally to compete in events including the US open, Swiss Open and Australian Open, also participating in tournaments in Canada, New Zealand and Japan. He represented Team GB at this year s Paralympics his second appearance at the Paralympics after winning a bronze media in 2008 at Beijing. Of the sponsorship, Hilary Meredith said: We are absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to support Jamie. He is a truly inspirational man who has shown real resilience and passion in the face of adversity. Jamie said: I am very proud to have Hilary Meredith Solicitors on board as my sponsors.

2 London office now open Since the last issue of HM News, Hilary Meredith Solicitors has opened a new office in London. The firm s new office at Central Court, 25 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane is focusing specifically on military claims. To mark the launch of the new office, Hilary Meredith Solicitors has appointed Sinead Cartwright, a former Partner with Thornleys Solicitors, as the firm s first London-based partner. Sinead has a wealth of experience in personal injury complex litigation with a trade union background. Said Hilary Meredith: An office in London has been on our radar for some time now. We are now closer to the Ministry of Defence at Whitehall as well as the Courts and Southern-based clients and barracks. We will also continue our work with the Royal British Legion in London and other service charities. Over the last 25 years, Hilary Meredith has helped secure over 70million in compensation for members of the Armed Forces both in the UK and overseas. Her career in representing the armed forces spans cases from Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Gulf War 1, Afghanistan and Iraq including incidents on manoeuvres and in training in countries from Belize to Hong Kong. Cases include a 5.6m single award from the Ministry of Defence, at the time the highest ever awarded against it, and Whitley & Ors v US Government, where she crossed the Atlantic to recover $16m for her client. Other successes include 1.7m awarded to a soldier who became paraplegic after an accident; an award of 4.5m DM for a brain-injured German student; a 5.2m award to a child rendered brain injured after a serious road traffic accident, in a single MIB case, and in 2009 a 300,000 military industrial deafness case. Hilary and her team also undertake a great deal of pro bono work for the military community. In 2010 the firm represented the families of three men killed and two men injured at the inquest into a friendly fire incident. The firm also recently represented the families at the inquest of two cousins killed in an RAF training exercise, as well as representing the parents of Corporal Nicholas Charles Webster-Smith, a Royal Military Policeman, who was tragically killed by an Afghan National Policeman inside a Check Point known as Check Point Blue 25 on 3rd November In recent months Hilary has been lobbying the British government to adopt more policies to help troops who become victims of roadside bombs when stationed abroad. Driven by her work for Sergeant Rick Clement who lost both his legs, suffered severe internal injuries and was told he could never have children again, Hilary is heading a campaign urging the MOD to introduce various new policies intended to protect and educate troops when confronted with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and their potentially devastating effects.

3 Making a Will Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd can now assist you with all aspects of your estate planning making the process stress free and leaving you with the peace of mind that your loved ones will be looked after when you are no longer here. Why make a Will? Without a Will you are classed as dying intestate and certain rules govern who your money, property and possessions pass to. The people who benefit from your estate may not be the people you would have wished to benefit. They may be people that you have not been in contact with for some time, or people that you have never met. Your estate does not automatically pass to your spouse or partner. This could ultimately lead to financial problems for the loved ones you assumed would inherit from your estate. Make provision for your children to ensure a guardian is appointed in the event of both parents dying whist the children are still minors. Leave a legacy to charity. Without a Will any charity you may have supported will not benefit from your estate. Avoid family arguments and disputes. Why make a Lasting Power of Attorney? A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a document which allows you to appoint individuals to manage your affairs in the event you are no longer able to manage them yourself. There are two types of LPA, one which deals with your Property & Affairs and one that deals with your Health & Welfare. Both documents have to be prepared and signed by all parties prior to them being registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, which then allows your Attorneys to act on your behalf in the event you become incapable of managing your own affairs through accident or illness. Without an LPA no-one has the authority to deal with matters for you (not even your spouse or partner) and as such if you are unable to manage your own affairs, an application to the Court of Protection will be required. This can be costly and time consuming and could also lead to family members supporting you financially in the interim which could be a burden on their resources. Contact us today to find out more

4 Make Social Media part of the curriculum says Hilary Meredith I feel that more responsibility should be taken in schools to reflect this. As part of the national curriculum, I believe that we should make sure that children are educated on these sites are aware of any risks or dangers and their responsibilities to peers online. It s never too soon to be prepared. Hilary s 5 rules of internet etiquette: With the news that children as young as nine are now accessing social media websites, Hilary Meredith has called upon the government to consider placing social media etiquette on the agenda for schoolchildren in the UK. A major study has found that more than one in four nine and ten-year-olds use social networking websites, and primary schoolchildren are lying about their age to circumvent the age rules in place on sites such as Facebook. Hilary Meredith is a prolific user of social media and believes that in the current age of online living, children should be made more aware of how to keep safe and conduct themselves online. 1.Remember that anything you place on the internet no matter how small becomes a document that can be forwarded, copied, printed, doctored and used against you in a court of law. 2.Never send with anger in your bones, revenge as your aim, or hatred in your heart. 3.Pause for thought and walk away. 4.Don t give out personal details, and protect yourself with privacy settings 5. Never offend when you press send! She said: Social media is a truly revolutionary discovery and one that has changed the way we communicate quite dramatically. I use sites such as Twitter and Facebook on both a professional and personal level and I am routinely shocked at some of the comments that I see. As the popularity of social media continues to skyrocket, it s unfortunate that the education of how to use these sites has not. I know through my daughter that the new generation are growing up immersed in these sites and are living more of their lives online than ever before and

5 Accident Compensation Claims Recommend Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd and receive 200! Do you know someone who has been involved in an accident? If so, they might be entitled to accident compensation. Refer them to Hilary Meredith Solicitors and receive 200. The cash will be sent to you as soon as we ve accepted the referred personal injury accident case and the third party have admitted liability. It s that easy! Cash incentive cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion. New television advert now released! After months of planning and production, our new advertising campaigning featuring Team GB Paralympic tennis star Jamie Burdekin and Sergeant Richard Rick Clement has now hit the TV screens. Please click on the links below to see the advertisement for yourself your feedback would be very welcome. Rick Clement Jamie Burdekin Meredith House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AR Central Court, 25 Southampton Buildings, London WC2A 1AL Telephone Hilary Meredith Solicitors Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales. SRA ID number: