Welcome to the Personal Injury Awards

Anthony Hughes has worked with a number of leading Manchester law firms, becoming a partner in 1995 and a managing partner in 2001. He practised in the litigation sector, specialising in insurance disputes—primarily of a casualty and regulatory nature.

In 2001, Anthony became managing partner of Ricksons, taking the firm from around £5m per annum in fee income to around £14m by 2006, at which point he agreed a merger with DWF.

Having sat on the board at DWF for two years, Anthony was invited to become CEO of Horwich Farrelly, which he did in May 2009.

In January 2014, Anthony formed Jackson Hughes Consulting, offering strategic consultancy advice to the legal, insurance and claims sectors, and has been involved in a number of projects since, including specific merger and acquisition activity.

In February 2019, he joined Simpson Millar as COO.

Anthony is currently commercial officer with KP Law, a law firm specialising in group actions and consumer redress. He was invited to take over as chair and CEO of The CHO in August 2022, a role he does alongside that with KPL.

Anthony is also a non-executive director of niche insurance and mobility services provider Driver Further.

Sharon Allison is a partner and head of medical injury at Ashtons Legal and has extensive experience in all claims arising from medical injury events but specialises in catastrophic birth injury, brain injury and spinal injury claims. She has also recently taken up the post of the first female Chair of the Society for Clinical Injury Lawyers (SCIL). 

Sharon is a fellow of APIL and a specialist on the clinical negligence panel of AvMA.  

Sharon spent a significant part of her early career building expertise in inquest representation, which is now a large part of her team’s medical practice. She developed particular expertise in mental health and patient safety. 

She still spends time with national/regional stakeholders to collaboratively work together on streamlining the litigation process and putting grieving families at the heart of the process. 

Vicki is an accomplished and dynamic leader in rehabilitation and case management with a proven track record of start-ups, steering organisations towards excellence whilst bringing a wealth of knowledge in strategic planning, operational leadership and stakeholder engagement across health and social care settings.

Currently Vicki leads Social Return Case Management, a clinical service company she founded 10 years ago. She chaired The British Association of Brain Injury and Complex Case Management (BABICM) from 2021 – 2024 and has steered both organisations towards significant growth and transformative change. In the second half of 2024 she takes up a university teaching and research position at Teesside University.

Vicki’s entrepreneurial approach inspires and motivates others with her commitment to quality, innovation, governance balanced with sustainable outcomes for communities and stakeholders. Vicki is adept at fostering collaboration, driving policy advocacy, and navigating complex regulatory environments, whilst upholding the vision and values of teams and organisations.