Find out more about Ian Johnson – Personal Injury Law Partner at Bray & Bray, based at our head office in Leicester city centre.
Q: How long have you been working in Personal Injury Law?
A: I qualified 19 years ago today (16th October). I had also trained in PI for a year before then, so I’ve been working in PI for just over 20 years.
Q: What made you want to get into Personal Injury Law?
A: When I was doing my solicitor training I got on very well with a colleague who just did PI work for the injured party. I enjoyed the work and ended up doing most of my training in PI, then just never stopped.
Q: What is the most challenging type of case you have handled and won?
A: All catastrophic injury claims are difficult, but ones involving small children are really hard because of the emotional side; there are the emotional issues of the whole family to deal with. As well as having concerns for the child, I have to manage their parents’ emotions and expectations too.
Other difficult cases are when there is a complete imbalance between my client and the might of the insurer; the money that they have to spend and the resources they have available to throw at a case. Sometimes global insurers on the other side will pay whatever they have to try to defeat or minimise a case.
Q: What types of cases do you have most experience in?
A: Brain injury claims, amputation claims – a fair few of which have involved children.
Q: Why do you think so many people come to Bray & Bray to sort out Personal Injury issues?
A: I’d like to think that they come to us because of our reputation. I find that people contact us because others have told them that we know what we are doing, we’re specialists and we get good results.
Q: Which sort of cases do you find that you can relate to most?
A: I probably have a greater insight into the effects of head injuries than other types of injury because I had one. I crashed a racing car when I was 30 and was unconscious for a long time. It was only looking back a few years after it had happened and with experience of acting for brain injured clients that I realised I’d had quite a significant brain injury.
The general categorisations for brain injuries are minor, moderate or severe and with around 4 weeks of post traumatic amnesia (other than a few islands of memory) and the length of time that I was unconscious, my case was severe. When people who have suffered a brain injury tell me about what they’re doing or what they’re thinking, I can relate to it because I can remember being there myself.
Q: What do you do to unwind after a busy day?
A: Dinner, wine and sleep – not always in that order!
Q: What is the key to your success?
A: I’m dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome regardless of the obstacles. I don’t like losing – not because I’m highly competitive, but because I feel somewhat responsible for the period of time in peoples’ lives where I’m trying to help them to get back to something like their pre-accident life; especially for severely injured people or cases involving children. It’s always difficult but it’s also a motivating factor; I feel like I have got to get the best result.
Q: If you weren’t a solicitor, what do you think you would be good at?
A: I would like to work outdoors, probably doing something manual – a builder or a gardener; something like that. I’ll always choose to be outside when I can be.
You can contact Ian directly on email at iwjohnson@braybray.co.uk. Bray & Bray have three main offices across Leicestershire, feel free to phone or pop in to talk to our solicitors.
- Leicester: 0116 254 8871
- Hinckley: 01455 639 900
- Market Harborough: 01858 467 181
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