Hilary Meredith-Beckham was last night named as the country's leading personal injury solicitor.
Hilary won the Claimant Lawyer of The Year award at the Personal Injury Awards 2024 in Manchester. It is the first time any solicitor has won the Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year award on three separate occasions.
The judges praised Hilary - who represents service personnel, veterans and their families - for securing successful outcomes and positive settlements for her clients, working to promote and develop ADR solutions for personal injury, championing client care and making a positive difference in the wider community.
Commenting on her award win, Hilary Meredith-Beckham said:
"It is a huge honour to become the first solicitor to win this prestigious award three times. I would like to thank my team at Hilary Meredith Solicitors and everyone who has supported me.
"Through my work with servicemen and women throughout the world, I’ve witnessed the sacrifices made by our forces and their families all too often. It is an honour and a privilege to champion their cause.”
Brian Wood MC, a former colour sergeant who commanded troops during the Battle of Danny Boy and was relentlessly pursued by the now disgraced Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) over false claims of war crimes, congratulated Hilary on her award win. He said:
“From my own experience as a client, I know that when Hilary takes on a case, she lives and breathes it.
“After being falsely accused of war crimes by IHAT, Hilary’s expertise, support and guidance helped me through an extremely dark time in my life.
“Hilary makes a positive difference to service personnel, veterans and their families every single day. She is absolutely committed to making the world a better place for our armed forces community. She fully deserves this award."
Hilary has acted in thousands of cases against the MoD, recovering hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation. Her successes include individual settlements in excess of £16 million for her military clients.
Hilary’s career in protecting the welfare of 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 and Canada.
During her 37-year legal career, Hilary has acted in a range of precedent setting cases, worked closely with Parliamentary Inquiries and Government Ministers and successfully campaigned for changes in the law. She provided evidence to the Select Defence Committee on the Iraq historic abuse cases, which ultimately contributed to the closure of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team. Hilary gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Brecon Beacon fatalities, Beyond Endurance, recommending that the MoD should be subject to the Corporate Manslaughter Act where there has been a reckless disregard for life - a recommendation which the Inquiry upheld.
Hilary has represented a large number of bereaved families at Inquests, largely on a Pro Bono basis. Recommendations made as a result of the issues she has raised have had a direct life-saving impact on the future safety of our servicemen and women.
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