Kennedys is seeking an experienced Senior Associate / Legal Director to join our rapidly expanding Catastrophic Injury team in London or Manchester. This senior role sits at the heart of a nationally recognised practice and involves leading and managing complex, high‑value catastrophic injury cases across motor, employer's liability, and public liability claims. You will be responsible for cases involving life‑changing injuries, sensitive circumstances, and matters that frequently attract national media attention.
You will work directly with our UK Head of Catastrophic Injury, Mark Burton—widely regarded as a leading figure in the field—playing a pivotal role in shaping case strategy, mentoring junior lawyers, and delivering exceptional client service. This position offers the opportunity to take ownership of some of the most challenging and high‑profile cases in the market, while contributing to the continued growth and reputation of a highly specialised and supportive team.
Team
Kennedys is a leading international law firm with a long‑established reputation for excellence in catastrophic injury work. Our Serious and Catastrophic Injury team is consistently top‑ranked in the major legal directories and is recognised for its depth of expertise, technical strength, and innovative approach to resolving the most complex and high‑value injury claims. We work with many of the UK's major insurers and are known for building strong, collaborative relationships grounded in trust, transparency, and a genuine understanding of our clients' commercial priorities.
Our team is instructed on some of the most challenging, sensitive, and high‑profile cases in the market, often involving life‑changing injuries and issues of national significance. These cases are led by highly experienced Partners who are widely regarded as market leaders in this specialist field. Our international footprint also means we are frequently engaged on UK claims requiring cross‑border quantum investigations, drawing on the expertise of colleagues across our global network.
We pride ourselves on avoiding unnecessary lawyering and focusing on delivering pragmatic, modern, and commercially aligned solutions. This includes leveraging our in‑house R&D capability and our award‑winning suite of technological and process innovations, which enable us to work more efficiently, enhance case strategy, and provide clients with real‑time insights and data‑driven decision‑making tools. Our approach is grounded in partnership, innovation, and a commitment to achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients.
Clients
- Large composite and motor insurers
- London market insurers
- Corporates
Required experience
- 8+ years experience in a catastrophic injury role*
- Proven experience in defendant claims handling, including any combination of motor, employer liability, and public liability.
- In depth knowledgearound Ogden tables and future losses
- Experience in assisting on large cases within a team environment.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.
*where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.
About Kennedys
Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 3,000 people in 45 offices across 18 countries around the world we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.
Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.
We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.
What do we have to offer?
We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.
Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive, distinctive and ambitious. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.
The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.
We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.
Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.
