10th June 2007

• John Pickering and Partners LLP have received an award of Specialist law Firm of the Year 2007 from Liverpool Law Society at an event to celebrate legal excellence in the Liverpool law community.

• The award was given to the firm at a Legal Awards Dinner on the 9th June 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Liverpool.

• The award recognises the firm’s efforts in the field of asbestos litigation in recovering compensation and securing important legal rights for sufferers of asbestos disease, particularly in the Liverpool and Merseyside area.

• The firm recently won an important legal test case in the Court of Appeal that allows Liverpool dockworkers to sue the government for their development of asbestos related diseases.

• The specialist legal practice previously acted for Mrs Fox, the widow of a Liverpool docker and lagger who died from mesothelioma.  Her case was heard with 2 other cases in the Fairchild appeals, also known as the “the single fibre” case.

• Receiving the award on behalf of the firm, Kevin Johnson, partner from our Liverpool office said:

“The award is a great honour and privilege to receive, particularly because it is voted for by other members of the legal profession in the local area. 

However, it’s right that we remember that many of the test cases that we have brought have been cases where our clients have been compelled to bring claims firstly, because they have developed asbestos disease or have lost loved ones and secondly, because defendants and insurance companies have raised technical legal defences to avoid paying compensation for damage caused by asbestos exposure of employers that they insured.”

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a specialist legal practice that has represented claimants in the leading asbestos “test cases” in the last ten years.

The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v. Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers.  The case prompted the amendment to the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims.

The firm represented two of the three claimants in the Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

John Pickering and Partners LLP act for Mrs Rice and Mr Thompson in their test case against the government.  The Court of Appeal recently refused the government’s appeal against an earlier High Court decision that establishes that the government as the National Dock Labour Board owed a duty to dockworkers and is liable to compensate former workers and their families.

Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that attacks the lining around the lungs (the pleura) and certain other organs such as the peritoneum. There is no cure. Radical surgery is available to a limited number of patients. Alimta is the only licensed form of chemotherapy for mesothelioma in England and Wales, but funding is not available for the drug in all parts of the country. The condition can be difficult to diagnose and survival is usually less than 18 months from the time of diagnosis. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos. Mesothelioma often occurs 30 to 40 years after asbestos exposure, with no upper time limit. Although mesothelioma is an occupational disease, victims also include teachers, nurses, doctors, shop workers and family members of people who have worked with asbestos.

For further information please contact:

Kevin Johnson, partner,   0151 227 1214
mobile: 07736 670279
kj@johnpickering.co.uk

Neil Fisher, partner, 0161 834 1251
mobile: 07734 905210
nf@johnpickering.co.uk

www.johnpickering.co.uk