9th April 2024 – We are delighted to announce that Graham Balmforth has agreed to join Fairweathers, as a Consultant, working full time for the firm, following a period of part-time working with us. Graham is based in York, North Yorkshire and will work for us predominantly on a remote basis.
Graham served in the Royal Regiment of Artillery before training for the Bar and qualifying as a Barrister in 1998. He then cross qualified as a Solicitor in 2012, where he also worked a Higher Court Advocate and Law Society Specialist Clinical Panel Member until 2022.
In addition to his legal work Graham holds the DipFMS in Forensic Medicine from Glasgow and a MSc in Medical Forensics from the University of Verona. He is a former Dental Council member for the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and is a current member of the Joint Royal Colleges Training Board for the Royal College of Physicians in London. Since the onset of Covid 19 has sat on the Specialist Advisory Committee for the Faculty of Infectious Disease and he remains a National Institute of Clinical Excellence expert panel member.
Nick Fairweather, Fairweathers CEO, commented:- “I am delighted to be having someone of Graham’s calibre, experience and expertise joining the team. It is the ideal appointment at this time, reflecting the firm’s local specialism in high value claims across all clinical specialisms, including birth trauma/ cerebral palsy claims, head injuries and fatality claims with Inquest work often accompanying. It also positions us ideally going forward with a team led by 3 Grade A Fee Earners focusing on higher value, life changing injuries and fatalities, as we re-position the firm to adjust to the funding changes taking place in the market”.
Graham commented:- “Nick and the team at Fairweathers continue to demonstrate that a specialist and senior team of professionals can thrive in environments where there is a high degree of supervision, litigation support and collegiate collaboration. That triangular approach to the team is essential for these higher value medical cases where there are often thousands of pages of specialist evidence and issues of the utmost clinical complexity to get to grips with. As a Solicitor, you should always choose the firm to work for that you would instruct if you were a client and for these reasons I am very proud to be associated with Fairweathers going forward”.