Richard West

Richard qualified in England and Wales in 1993. He is the global head of liability defence and is a member of the firm’s strategy board. Richard also leads Kennedys’ innovations group.

Richard is a director of Kennedys IQ, our new technology driven company, wholly owned by Kennedys, that provides innovative solutions for insurance companies and large corporates to help them manage claims efficiently.

He is regularly instructed on clients’ most important, valuable and sensitive matters.

Richard acts for insurers, third-party administrators, and brokers and corporates with large deductibles, defending motor and casualty claims. He has particular and extensive expertise in catastrophic injury claims including complex liability matters, reputationally sensitive incidents and brain and psychiatric injury.Before specialising in catastrophic injury cases, Richard gathered in-depth experience in all liability matters including employers’, public and property liability.

He has significant experience advising clients on indemnity and policy matters and substantial experience in settling cases involving Periodical Payment Orders.

Richard leads the liability division and Kennedys’ innovations group with his vision that lawyers should empower their clients to use their lawyers less frequently. He believes that Kennedys should enhance clients’ own skills in the early stages of personal injury litigation in order to ‘de-lawyer the law’.

Richard developed Kennedys' virtual lawyer online claims tool ‘KLAiM’, which won Legal Technology Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2016. He has spearheaded the firms’ Innovation Toolkit, which is revolutionising the way in which clients respond to claims. In December 2017, KLAiM also won Insurance Day’s award for Technology Initiative of the Year.

Richard is the lead author of Kennedys’ Claims Handling Law and Practice Guide, the fourth edition of which was published in February 2021, and is a regular presenter and trainer. He is a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL).

As part of his active role in the firms’ lobbying agenda, Richard chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting in Westminster, focusing on Jackson reforms and authored Kennedys’ Ministry of Justice responses for whiplash, Jackson and portals.

Richard has met with Lord Justice Jackson and Lord Justice Briggs, as well as senior members of the Government Legal Department to demonstrate Kennedys’ innovative and award winning products that embody his division’s core principle of “helping clients to use all lawyers less”.

Richard also contributed to the Claims inflation and personal injury claims: a global review report, published in June 2023.