| About us > Key people
The team of 10 solicitors at Lawford Kidd is led by four key partners. Together they can draw upon over 70 years of collective experience.
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David Sandison – Senior Partner
David joined the firm in 1979. He is a graduate of Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities. David is an accredited Personal Injury Claim Specialist. His recent caseload included a vibration white finger claim for a seriously disabled road worker, which settled for over £100,000. He has been commended for work on hand injury claims and was formerly Scottish Co-ordinator of AVMA – Action for Victims for Medical Accidents.
David is also a member of the Law Society Civil Procedure Committee and, as well as accident and disease claims, he deals with employment matters. He has written articles for The Law Society of Scotland on repetitive strain injury, medical negligence and disability. |
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David Short – Managing Partner
A graduate of Dundee University in Accountancy and Economics, David joined Lawford Kidd in 1983. He deals exclusively with personal injury claims, specialising in aviation related accidents; he has represented the victims of fourteen air crashes in Scotland and abroad.
David is accredited as an expert in personal injury by the Law Society. He has been a member of the Association of Personal Injury Law since its inception and is currently Scottish Co-Ordinator. David is a Fellow of the College of Personal Injury Law and a member of the American Association for Justice. Chambers Directory says of David that, “he is ‘pragmatic, straightforward and helpful’, with peers reporting: ‘He will always tell you what he can and cannot do.’ His reputation in the market is reflected in his appointment as chair of Central Law Training’s course in personal injury law”. |
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Paul Kirkwood – Partner
Paul joined the firm as a partner in 2004. He graduated from Edinburgh University in 1991 and has wide experience in personal injury law claims.
He has fought and won many significant negligence claims. Of particular note is Skinner-v- Scottish Ambulance Service, where the Appeal Court held that employers could not put forward a defence of cost benefit as a way to avoid the provision of better and safer work equipment.
Paul has acted for most of Britain’s trade unions. He recently obtained one of the highest ever payments of compensation in a civil jury court case in Scotland
In addition to dealing with injury claims at all levels of severity, his current work involves high value head and brain injury claims arising from road traffic accidents. As well as obtaining damages awards, he is often involved in arranging high level medical rehabilitation care for brain injured clients. He has assisted in ensuring Personal Injury Trusts are put in place for future care and support for such badly injured clients. |
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Derek Carrigan – Partner
Derek joined Lawford Kidd as a trainee in 1998, qualified in 2000 and was assumed as a partner in 2006. Derek has history and law degrees awarded by the University of Glasgow. He handles industrial accidents and road traffic accidents.
He has a trade union background and is currently the Scottish Co-Ordinator of the Motor Accident Solicitor Society (MASS). As part of his union case load he recently obtained over £400,000 for a victim of asbestos related mesothelioma. |
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