Profile

Russell is a senior associate in our motor crime team based in Kennedys’ Birmingham office. Qualifying in England and Wales in 2010, he specialises in criminal representation of professional and lay drivers following serious injury and fatal collisions.

Russell handles cases from the scene of an accident through to police interviews, court proceedings and indeed coroners’ inquests. Russell undertakes some advocacy in Magistrates Court and Coroners Courts. He is a lawyer who achieves excellent results and is highly regarded by clients for his care and dedication to their cases.

Russell has some experience of regulatory prosecutions including fire safety.

His prior experience in personal injury claims (public liability and motor), allows him to preserve the interests of  insurers in any associated civil proceedings.

Russell Is a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL).

Qualifications

  • Qualified in England and Wales in 2008

Work highlights

  • Successfully forcing discontinuance of proceedings against a HGV driver caused of causing death by careless driving following colliding with an elderly pedestrian on a pelican crossing and in the related inquest seeing a report for prevention of further deaths being made over visibility from HGV drivers’ cabs by the coroner.
  • Successfully challenging RCM data taken from a car’s on board computer being used against a driver and the case against him for death by careless driving being discontinued.
  • Successfully forcing discontinuance of proceedings against a pensioner accused of causing death by careless driving where through instructing an independent collision expert we were able to show the collision  with the pedestrian was inevitable and the driver could never have avoided the accident from the point the pedestrian stepped out into the road.
  • Successfully forcing discontinuance of charges of causing death by careless driving a case where driver was involved in a fatal collision with a motorcyclist. Through going through unused footage and supplying that to the defence  expert we were able to show the police calculations of speed were inaccurate, the motorcycle was travelling at much higher sped than assumed by the police and that the collision was not caused by the driver pulling out.
  • Successful mitigation in a fire service prosecution against a health and safety professional for inadequate fire risk assessments. Through concessions obtained from the prosecution risk of custody was averted.