Thursday, May 31, 2012

New Partner and Associate-level promotions announced

Digby Brown has announced a number of promotions at Partner and Associate level, led by Mark Gibson becoming a partner within the firm’s Referral Department.

Digby Brown Promotions: From left, Euan Love, Mark Gibson, Helen Lawrence, Lianda Barnes

Based in Digby Brown’s Glasgow office, Mr Gibson specialises in workplace, road traffic, product liability and general personal injury litigation. He is also experienced in pursuing damages for the relatives of fatal accident victims.

A member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, he has worked for law firms in Australia and Hong Kong and is a former tutor of private, company, commercial and mercantile law at the University of Glasgow. He joined Digby Brown in 2003.

Reflecting Digby Brown’s continued expansion across both different areas of business and different areas of Scotland, Lianda Barnes is now an Associate within the Motorcycle Law Department in Digby Brown’s Dundee office.  Helen Lawrence has become an Associate in the Foreign and Travel law Department, based in Edinburgh, while Euan Love has been promoted to Associate in the firm’s Industrial Disease Department, based in Glasgow.

All three have been with Digby Brown for a number of years and bring extensive specialist knowledge in their fields.

Neil MacInnes, Digby Brown HR Director said “We are delighted to congratulate all our colleagues.  We are expanding across all of our offices in Scotland and the continued demand for our leading personal injury services is reflected in these promotions. I’m delighted that each of these four promotions demonstrates our commitment to helping our staff to build and develop their careers within Digby Brown.”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Awards events recognises Spinal Injuries Scotland volunteers

Digby Brown recently sponsored and hosted Spinal Injuries Scotland’s (SIS) fifth annual national awards lunch.

The event recognises the special contribution of individuals and families in supporting people with spinal injuries, their families and carers.

Digby Brown have worked with SIS for over ten years, using our expertise as personal injury lawyers in Scotland to support people who, though no fault of their own, suffer a Spinal Cord injury, helping them to achieve financial recourse in line with their future needs.  Digby Brown is the only personal injury solicitors in Scotland recommended by SIS.

Upon arrival in Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, guests enjoyed a glass of champagne and the chance to meet each other while looking out over the Clyde before being called through for the awards ceremony and lunch.

Robert Swanney, Partner and Head of Digby Brown’s Spinal Injury Unit,  welcomed guests. Robert asked guests to reflect that, while both Digby Brown and SIS have undergone significant change recently, both organisations have remained true to their core values and mission statements.

John Clark, Chair of SIS, described the event as “our opportunity to acknowledge and thank those who have made a special contribution to the work that we do and everyone involved in our volunteers programme.”

Each award winner received a unique, wooden sculpture, designed and created by Ike Curran, founder of Wheelchair Woodturners, a not for profit organisation created to help and advise disabled people in learning a new craft or skill.  Ike spoke about his work and the inspirations behind each of the four pieces.

David Allen, director of the Spinal Injuries Unit at Glasgow’s Southern General hospital, presented the first award of the afternoon to Laura Torrance for outstanding efforts as a volunteer of behalf of SIS.

Presenting the award, David praised Laura for the upbeat attitude that she brings to all of her work, from representing SIS at Naidex Scotland and The Motability Roadshow to peer support outreach in spinal injury clinics across Scotland and speaking to students at Glasgow Caledonian University about living with a spinal injury.

Robert Swanney from Digby Brown then stepped forward to recognise the tireless fundraising efforts of the Eastcroft Family, Andrew, Lynda and George

Since Andrew’s injury in 2008, the Eastcrofts’ have inspired volunteers, fun runners and even a dance troupe to raise vital funds for SIS. Just as importantly, their hard work has raised awareness of spinal injuries and the work done by Spinal Injuries Scotland.

The Richardson family, Andy Richardson, his wife Julie and his parents Walter and Fiona, were next to be called to the stage to receive an award. John Clark presented the award in recognition of their outreach work to raise awareness of spinal injury and their work with other families in similar situations.

John paid tribute to the work of the whole Richardson family, noting that the whole family have given moving talks about their different experiences since Andy’s injury and the extensive work they have done to help and support other families in similar situations.

The final award of the afternoon was presented to Irene Clark by David Allen.

David spoke of Irene’s invaluable work as the public face and first point of contact for the Spinal Injuries Unit, helping patients and their families, often in difficult circumstances and during challenging times.

John Clark closed the awards part of the day, looking ahead to an exciting few months for SIS and a continued partnership with Digby Brown, leaving guests free to enjoy their lunch and the rest of a memorable event.

More information on Spinal Injuries Scotland and its work can be found at http://www.sisonline.org/.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Head injury information Day a success

The second Head injury information Day was held in the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow on Wednesday 16th May.

The event, which was sponsored by Digby Brown, brought together twenty two organisations that support people with brain injuries and their families and carers in the West of Scotland. The number and variety of attendees reflected the work done by the Brain Injury Network Group (BING) in providing a forum for the exchange of information, experiences and knowledge around brain injury.

Robert Swanney, head of Digby Brown’s Brain and Spinal Injury Unit, welcomed guests and spoke about the importance of the event in raising awareness of brain injury and the services available to those who have suffered brain injuries. Councillor Allan Stewart, former Deputy Lord Provost of Glasgow, spoke of his own experiences as a service user at Graham Anderson House in Glasgow and paid tribute to the Brian Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) at that facility.  The Scottish Head Injuries Music Support Group provided a memorable musical welcome to the afternoon session.

A successful day

Several hundred people attended throughout the day. In addition to the main exhibition area, presentations from a variety of organisations took place, including from Robert Swanney of Digby Brown on The Rehabilitation Code.

The planning and running of the event on the day was done by a group of BING members, and some volunteer service users from Headway Glasgow and Momentum,  led by Kathleen McMonagle from Digby Brown. Kathleen has extensive involvement with BING and has been the driving force behind Head injury information Day since its inception. Speaking about the event, Kathleen said;

“Head injury information Day is about raising awareness of services for people with a head injury and their families by bringing together organisations across the West of Scotland whose hard work supports people living with brain injury. I’m delighted that we had more organisations involved and a higher number of visitors than last year. Head injury information Day has become an important annual event and I’m looking forward to working with BING and getting even more groups and individuals involved next year.”

Getting involved

If you would like more information about BING and how to get involved with the group and next year’s Head injury information Day, please get in touch with Kathleen at; Kathleen.McMonagle@digbybrown.co.uk.

We would encourage anyone involved in the brain injury field to consider taking part in next year’s Head injury information Day.  Feedback on this year’s event was extremely positive, with some example of the comments we have already received below;

“The head info day was really fantastic, it was so well represented and really well organised. Found the presentations I sat through very interesting as well. The service users we brought along with us found it extremely informative. Was nice to see a few old faces of previous service users too!”

“It’s great that Digby Brown support head injury in the way you do.” 

“Thanks again for Wednesday, my clients really enjoyed it and were all very impressed with all the exhibits on offer.”

“Everyone from Digby Brown made sure the day, especially the presentations, ran smoothly.  It was a fantastic day and everyone appeared to enjoy it.  Thank you again.”

“Great day, brilliant for networking and sharing ideas and issues; very worthwhile event and great for the future; well done”

Organisations who attended

A list of the organisations who attended the 2012 Head Injury Information Day can be found below;

• ABI service West Dunbartonshire Council
• Advocacy Project
• Brain Tumour UK
• Case Management Services ltd
• Child Brain Injury Trust
• Community Treatment Centre for Brain Injury
• Digby Brown Solicitors
• East Community Addiction Team
• Epilepsy Scotland and Lighthouse Services
• Glasgow Life
• Graham Anderson House- Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust
• Head Injury Research Group, The University of Glasgow
• Headway Glasgow
• Huntercombe Group
• Meningitis Trust
• Momentum Rehabilitation and Care
• NHS Lanarkshire Brain Injury Services
• North West Glasgow Carers Service
• Renfrewshire Head Injury Service
• Scottish Football Association
• Southern General and Glasgow Royal Infirmary Head Injury Project
• Visibility

The Digby Brown team