Liverpool Law Bulletin December 2013 December 2013 | Page 24
Feature
Lawyer in Lights
This month we feature Mark Hunter of
Mackrell & Thomas Solicitors
Mark Hunter is the sole principal of
Mackrell & Thomas solicitors, a
specialist firm of personal injury
solicitors and lives with his family in
West Kirby.
Mackrell & Thomas are based in Page
Moss and have been serving the
community there for the past 30
years. The firm is growing and opened
a second office in Norris Green
earlier this year and has just
expanded its team with a new
solicitor.
How has your legal career
developed?
I did my training contract at Wayman
Hales in Chester with Simon
Parrington. I was given a wide variety
of really good quality training and the
firm had an excellent reputation and
merged with Hill Dickinson not long
after I had qualified in 1996.
I used to visit courts all round the
North West and in North Wales as a
trainee and I could find myself doing 4
or 5 hearings a day. All before phone
hearings of course.
My first job as a qualified solicitor was
at Forster Dean in Widnes. I had
decided by then that I wanted to do
personal injury and I much preferred
winning for claimants rather than just
reducing how much innocent accident
victims should receive.
I spent 16 years at Forster Dean,
during which time the firm grew
under the ownership of Peter Forster
Dean and then following an MBO,
from 2 offices to 25 offices. I
progressed from being a newly
qualified solicitor to being one of
owners and the Head of the Personal
Injury Department.
I then joined Mackrell & Thomas and
am thoroughly enjoying running my
own firm. We have a small but
specialist team who are dedicated to
helping our local clients with their
personal injury claims.
I am assisted by Louise Gillespie, who
is the Practice Manager at Mackrell &
Thomas, and who in her spare time
runs her own jewellery business. She
received the Merseyside
Businesswoman of the year award in
the summer.
What changes to legal services
have you seen?
I have always worked at firms where
clients come to the firm because it
has a good reputation. At Mackrell &
Thomas, clients come to us knowing
they will be properly looked after and
will have a qualified solicitor to fight
on their behalf.
My approach to dealing with injury
claims has not changed much over all
these years. It is simple; if you do a
good job for people and provide an
excellent service then people will
come back to you and will
recommend your services to others.
The commercia lly astute firms that
quickly saw the benefits of
recoverable ATE premiums and
success fees used this system and did
very well over the past 12 years.
However it was probably the high
level of costs routinely claimed by
many North West firms in RTA claims,
which led to the government deciding
to give in to the insurers’ arguments
on reforming the claims system and
making almost all the changes that the
insurers wanted.
Claimant personal injury firms are
now having to face how to deal with
over a 50% reduction of turnover and
whilst there have already been many
redundancies and mergers, there must
be more change to come.
What is your favourite TV
programme
No dancing, no singing, no soaps and
no period dramas! That probably
doesn’t leave much left nowadays but
what I have really liked recently is the
Ambassadors and so I hope they
make some more episodes.
If you left law today, what would
you do?
Is it a bit sad to think that I really like
doing personal injury and so I have
not considered what to do if I left?
Probably. You get to win your cases
almost all the time, so what’s not to
like!
What is your guilty pleasure?
I have tended to work in the suburbs
of Liverpool throughout my career
and I was in Widnes for 6 years so
coming into the centre of Liverpool
was a rarity. Whenever I come into
town, my rule is that I have a cake
with my lunch at Philpotts if a court
hearing or a conference has gone well
and no cake if they have not gone
well. If the hearing or conference is
after lunch, but I am feeling confident
then I get a cake anyway!
Do you have a tidy desk?
I have a very neat and tidy interview
room where we see our clients; it is
sometimes a marked contrast to my
own room.
What is your favourite meal?
This is the hardest question of the
lot. I love all types of oriental food
but my favourite is Thai food.
I went to the Liverpool Food and
Drink Festival for the first time this
summer and wished I had more time
there. I was playing cricket nearby so
during our cricket tea interval, I ran
to the festival and fuelled up with a
Thai pie and some chocolate wine. I
then played the best cricket I have
ever played so I can recommend
those Thai pies!
How do you relax outside the
law?
I watch Liverpool with my wife and
son and I assist the coaching of my
son’s football team. A lot of the year
is dominated by cricket and I play at
Caldy cricket club and manage my
son’s junior team. I have only been to
a couple of England cricket matches
and will soon be very envious of the
people that are in Australia watching
cricket in the sun.
What is best holiday you have
ever had?
I spent my third year at University,
studying in Athens and I also met my
wife when I was there and so we
both love going back to Greece as we
have so many great memories there.
There is one trip that sticks in my
mind however and although it was
only a short trip, the 24 hour visit to
Istanbul in May 2005 was quite
memorable.
CHESHIRE & MERSEYSIDE: COURT OPENING TIMES
24 DECEMBER 2013 TO 2 JANUARY 2014
Civil, Family & Tribunals
All Courts/Tribunals will be open as follows:
Monday 23 December –
Normal Business Hours
Tuesday 24 December –
Normal Business Hours
Wednesday 25 December - CLOSED
Thursday 26 December CLOSED
Friday 27 December CLOSED
Monday 30 December Normal Business Hours
Tuesday 31 December Normal Business Hours
Wednesday 1 January 14
CLOSED
Thursday 2 January 14 –
Normal Business Hours
Friday 3 January 14 - Normal Business Hours
Counters are open 10am – 2pm on the days where Courts are open. Liverpool
County Court counter is operated under an appointment system which will
24
Liverpool Law
continue during the Christmas Period.
There will be Reduced Courts sittings from 24th December 2013 to 1st January
2014.
Urgent out of hours Court Business will operate as normal.
Magistrates Courts
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4pm)
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•
•
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Fri 20th Dec - Usual Sittings (Telephones 5pm, Counter 4pm)
Mon 23rd Dec - Usual Sittings Telephones 5pm, Counter 4pm)
Tues 24th Dec - Reduced Courts (Telephone/Counters open until
Wed 25th Dec – Closed
Thurs 26th Dec – Admin Office Closed - Occasional Courts
Fri 27th Dec – Admin Office Closed - Occasional Courts
Mon 30th Dec - Reduced Courts (Telephones 5pm, Counter 4pm)
Tues 31st Dec - Reduced Courts (Telephones 4pm, Counter 4pm)
Wed 1st Jan 14 – Closed
Thurs 2nd Jan 14 - Usual Sittings (Telephones 5pm, Counter 4pm)