According to thelawyer.com, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors has bought a portfolio of personal injury cases from Manchester firm Donns LLP.
Donns LLP filed for administration on the 23rd of March. PricewaterhouseCoopers Toby Underwood and Robert Hebenton have been appointed as the administrators.
Amongst a number of other firms, Irwin Mitchell Solicitors picked up personal injury specialist Donns’ work in progress, understood to comprise of hundreds of cases. However, a spokesperson for the auditor could not confirm which other firms had also bought cases from Donns LLP.
Andrew Tucker, Irwin Mitchell’s Personal Legal Services chief executive made the following statement: “Irwin Mitchell confirms that it has agreed an arrangement with PwC as administrators appointed in respect of Donns LLP for the transfer of the firm’s personal injury files to Irwin Mitchell, subject to clients’ consent.
“This is welcome news for those clients of Donns who would otherwise have been left without a solicitor to act for them in their case. We appreciate this will be worrying for many of the people affected and we are therefore writing to each client to advise them of the situation and to offer them the choice of appointing Irwin Mitchell, as a respected personal injury law firm, to act for them or to appoint another solicitor of their choosing.
“Those clients who decide to appoint us will do so safe in the knowledge that Irwin Mitchell has vast experience in acting in personal injury cases, as well as in taking on many cases where clients have come to us after having previously instructed another firm and where we’ve been able to achieve a very successful outcome for them. They’ll also benefit from high-quality legal advice from experts in our eight offices across the country.
“We’d also assure any clients who don’t wish to appoint Irwin Mitchell that we’ll hold the files for their case, and any monies paid, safely until they inform us of their wishes.”
Companies House filings show that three-partner firm Donns LLP pulled in £8.2m in turnover (2009-10) financial year, but its liabilities exceeded its assets by nearly £5.6m. Work in progress at the firm in 2009-10 was just over £1.5m.