The Legal 500

Thompsons Scotland is the Scottish arm of Thompsons Solicitors UK and is one of the largest specialist personal injury practices in Scotland.

The firm: Thompsons was founded in 1924 with a vision of creating a different kind of law practice dedicated to the victims of accident, injury, industrial wrong and employment mistreatment. These core principles remain with the firm to this day.

The Scottish practice is a multi-award winning firm, having won many top legal awards over the last few years, including Law Firm of the Year 2009, 2010 and 2011 (Scott + Co Scottish Legal awards), Litigation Firm of the Year 2012 (Scott + Co Scottish Legal Awards) among many others, with partner Laura Blane winning Specialist Lawyer of the Year 2012 (Scott + Co Legal Awards) for her tireless work and campaigning, which was key to the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate the right to compensation for pleural plaques sufferers in Scotland; a decision which has also given campaign groups unprecedented access to the Scottish legal system.

Types of work undertaken: Thompsons enjoys a reputation of pre-eminence in the field of personal injury work. It is a reputation built upon the firm’s breadth and depth of knowledge in this area. The firm acts only for pursuers and never acts for defenders, and pursues clients’ cases aggressively to ensure they receive their full entitlement to compensation in the quickest time possible.

Thompsons are experts in mass litigation in respect of Equal Pay, Chronic Bronchitis & Emphysema and Pleural Plaques, and were the only additional party to the Judicial Review Petition in relation to the Damages (Asbestos-related conditions) (Scotland) Act.

With an extremely large trades union client base, representing all of the country’s major trades unions, Thompsons has an unrivalled industrial knowledge and understanding that has been used to great effect over the years to push the boundaries of liability in terms of industrial accidents and disease. On the road traffic front, Thompsons acts for several major insurance providers and has a large specialist road traffic unit based in the Edinburgh office.

Thompsons is set apart from other personal injury providers in two important respects. Firstly, there is an entirely uniform attitude throughout the firm, from partners and solicitor-advocates to technical and support staff. The whole staff is proud to work for a firm that is considered to be unique in being so committed to victims of accident and disease. Secondly, because of the culture within the firm, Thompsons is so much more than a personal injury law firm. Thompsons does not see itself as a collection of lawyers that advance personal injury claims to win their clients money in a vacuum. The firm always goes the extra mile and strives to improve the service it provides for both individual and institutional clients. For individual clients, the approach is on a ‘whole case’ basis, rather than simply looking at a compensation claim. For other institutional clients, Thompsons actively engages in additional services such as campaigning, political lobbying, training and prevention strategies.

As recognised experts in devolution and political campaigning, Thompsons was heavily involved in campaigns resulting in the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997, Damages (Scotland) Act 1993, Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Act 2007, Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 and the Damages (Scotland) Act 2011.

With significant experience of public inquiries, Thompsons’ solicitors have served as the sole recognised legal representative for the families and victims in the Stockline, Penrose and Vale of Leven C.Diff public inquires.

The firm’s main departments include road traffic accidents (with an excellent success rate, winning over 90% of personal injury cases and recovering over £1m every week for clients), lung disease, union workplace, non-union workplace, industrial diseases (injuries or sicknesses resulting from long term exposure to an occupational hazard in the workplace) and other diseases such as Hepatitis C, MRSA, C.Diff and gastric illness.

Other offices: Aberdeen, Glasgow

Areas of work
Road traffic accidents
Lung disease
Union workplace
Non-union workplace
Other diseases
Industrial diseases

Number of UK Partners 11

Number of other UK fee-earners 43