If you or someone close to you has sustained a life-changing injury, you can come to us at any stage. Some people contact us whilst still in hospital, and it is never too early to get clear advice and plan for the future as practical and legal decisions can come quickly. Others speak to us at a later stage, sometimes part way through a claim when they realise a different level of expertise is required.

The impact of a life-changing injury rarely falls on one person alone. A partner of other family member is often dealing with it too, whilst trying to hold everything else together.

Who we act for

We only act for people with serious, life-changing injuries. That is all we do.

We are experts in acting for clients who have experienced:

• Spinal cord injury
• Brain injury
• Amputation and limb loss
• Complex orthopaedic trauma
• Serious burns.

The early stages of a serious injury claim

Below are some of the questions people ask most often in the early days after a serious injury:

• How will I pay for care, rehabilitation, equipment or home adaptations?
• What support can be put in place now, rather than waiting for the case to finish?
• Which decisions need to be made now, and which can wait?
• If there is a settlement, will it properly protect my future or leave gaps that cannot be fixed later?

We work through all of these with you.

What most people need first is confidence that there is a way forward. We often obtain interim payments and rehabilitation funding from the defendant faster than you might expect, usually within weeks. Where the defendant declines or delays, seriously injured people can be left waiting for the funding they need to rebuild their lives. To help our clients in that difficult situation, we have a ground-breaking scheme, Stewarts Advance, through which you may be able to access up to £50,000. This puts you in control of planning your future. We also seek an early admission of liability from the defendant, so you can plan with greater certainty.

We coordinate specialist case management, keeping your treatment and support on track from the start.

We recognise that the impact of a life changing injury rarely falls on one person alone, and alongside your personal injury claim, our Pro Bono team is available to provide free support on a wide variety of issues. This may include housing, finances, benefits and powers of attorney. Solving these issues enables you to focus on your recovery. We also have a rehabilitation coordination service to provide practical support to clients and their families.

Our approach

Just as every client is different, so is every claim unique, and when you settle your claim, that outcome has to cover the rest of your life. From the start, we build each case around you and with your future in mind.

That means gathering evidence early, instructing the right experts and keeping the case moving even where liability is disputed. Although most cases settle before trial, experience shows that defendants offer better terms when they can see that a claim is fully prepared for court, so we build every case with a trial in mind from the start. If yours does reach a courtroom, we will be ready, and you will have received guidance and support throughout.

Our lawyers typically handle only eight to 12 cases at a time, compared to other firms where that figure may be 40 or more. This gives us the time to really get to know you and your family, to visit you as often as is required, and to prepare your case for a settlement that will last your lifetime. Your solicitor will be a genuine specialist in life-changing personal injury claims and will be able to draw on the collective expertise of our market-leading team, many of whom have decades of experience of running claims like yours.

The goal is an outcome that lets you live as full and as active a life as possible.

Funding your claim

Most of our personal injury clients seek no win, no fee arrangements for their case, rather than risk their own money. These arrangements usually involve a combination of a conditional fee agreement (otherwise known as a CFA) and legal expense insurance. The key features are:

• You pay nothing upfront,
• If you win, most of your legal costs are usually paid by the other side, with the remainder covered from your compensation
• Provided you comply with the CFA and insurance terms, you will be fully protected from any financial liability for your claim if it is unsuccessful.

We will check whether you have a preexisting legal expense insurance policy and explain what it covers. Even if you do not, or the policy you have is insufficient for your claim, that is not a problem. Once we agree to act for you under a CFA, we can arrange after the event insurance for you that also has no upfront cost.

It is important that you fully understand your funding and insurance options and their associated terms. One of our experienced solicitors will explain the full details to you and answer your questions before you enter into any agreement or insurance policy.

Our results

In 2025, 33 of our clients received damages awards of £1m or more. Together they received £205m in compensation.

Over the past decade, we have recovered over £1.4bn in damages for seriously injured clients, and secured over £144m in interim payments for those clients.

We have secured the largest periodical payments award in UK legal history. Our record single settlement stands at £41.7m.

What others say

We have been top ranked for personal injury in both Chambers and the Legal 500 for over 25 years and have been listed in the Times Best Law Firms report for the last six consecutive years. Our team won Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence Team of the Year at the Chambers UK Awards in 2025.

Getting in touch

You can speak to us whenever you are ready. You may be at the very start, still trying to make sense of things. Or perhaps you already have a claim underway and you feel your solicitor is not giving you the specialist advice your case requires. We always offer a free initial consultation so that you can understand whether you have a claim and what it would involve.