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The Haemophilia Society appoint new legal representation

Written by Aaron Dennis, February 25, 2019

The Haemophilia Society has ended its association with Malcomson Law UK Ltd, meaning the firm will no longer represent The Society at the Infected Blood Inquiry.

We have appointed Eversheds Sutherland as our new legal representative. This is a UK-wide firm with branches in England, Scotland, Wales and deep knowledge of Northern Ireland. It provided and led the team of lawyers for the inquiries into Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry, as well as the Shipman Inquiry, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, and the Jersey Care Inquiry which concerned child sex abuse. Currently, the firm acts for two core participants in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

Eversheds Sutherland knows how public inquiries in the UK work inside out and it has in-depth experience of investigating and exposing failings and incompetence within NHS governance structures. 

All our members can be assured that we have thought long and hard about this decision and we are confident that this change of representation is the right way forward for The Society and its individual members. We do understand that, for some members, this decision will cause surprise and anxiety, for which we are very sorry. However, we firmly believe that The Society is in the right hands.

Although The Haemophilia Society has decided it no longer wishes to be represented by Malcomson Law, we want to stress to our members who are infected and affected by the Inquiry that they have the option of being represented by their legal firm of choice. Any individual who has already signed up with Malcomson Law will remain their client unless they tell the firm that they no longer want to be represented by them.

We want to reassure our members, the wider haemophilia community and the Infected Blood Inquiry itself that we will play our full part in ensuring that the truth into the contaminated blood scandal is exposed and justice is delivered.