Personal Injury: 5 at 5 – Hannah Rudling
During this week’s Injury Awareness Week, our Marketing Manager Louis Hilldrup-Boorman persuaded our Personal Injury Team of lawyers to sit down over a coffee at the end of the day to answer 5 quick fire questions on their practice, in order to gain an insight behind what brought them to the law and personal injury litigation together with some interesting facts. Hopefully these answers provide an interesting insight behind the lawyer, their experience and their drive to succeed…
Hannah Rudling – Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and Associate
How did you enter the legal profession?
It was by chance to be honest. I was relatively academic at school but didn’t know what I wanted to do as a career (which used to frustrate my Dad) but who really knows at 15/16 years old what they want to do for the rest of their working life? Anyway, the careers advice was to do my A levels and then go to university and although I completed my UCAS form, I knew university really wasn’t for me. In the summer after my A levels, I saw an advert in the paper that R&N were looking for an office junior. By this time I had a bit more of any idea as to what I wanted to do and saw this as a way of getting a” foot in the door”. I applied and was offered the job and started work with R&N on the 1st October 1997. I was only an office junior for a few months before I was offered the position of personal assistant to the practice manager as his current PA was about to go on maternity leave. By this time I had made it clear that I was interested in pursuing a career in law and so when a position became available in the personal injury department as a secretary, I moved across into that department. This was around 1999 and I have been there ever since although my role in the department has changed significantly. I commenced my study with ILEX around August 2000, qualifying as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives on the 28th February 2008.
Why do you practice personal injury law?
A bit like Mark, I also fell into this area of law. When I first joined R&N, the personal injury department undertook a lot of uninsured loss recovery cases as we were also panel solicitors for legal expense insurers. It was a good area of the practice to get into for progression, I was offered a position in the department and I took it. The fact that I enjoy the work as well which over the years has been very diverse and challenging (and has moved away from the uninsured loss recovery) is a bonus! I wouldn’t still be here otherwise. There is something very rewarding about being able to help and support injured clients when they are at their most vulnerable and ensuring that they are properly compensated for the injuries suffered as a result of another’s negligence.
You can’t take on every case, so what is the most interesting, declined case?
It’s not a declined case (although it almost was) as I am acting for the client but in this job you are sometimes dealing with clients who have suffered significant injuries or trauma as a result of someone else’s negligence. You have to have empathy and compassion as clients are often vulnerable and at their lowest. When I receive initial enquiries, I have to try and take the emotion out of the situation to ensure that I am providing the correct advice to the client and managing expectations. However, sometimes I do take a risk, usually because I have a bit of a gut instinct (and the client’s story has tugged at my heart strings), and on this occasion it turns out that there had in fact been several breaches by the client’s GP surgery over a number of years which then resulted in the delayed diagnosis of cancer. It just goes to show that sometimes you do need to take a bit of a flyer!
What is your proudest moment?
I have had lots of proud moments in my career; completing my ILEX exams and qualifying as a Legal Executive is definitely up there, as is applying for and obtaining exemption from the qualifying period so I actually qualified as a Fellow two years earlier than would normally have been the case. I was able to show, that the fee-earning that I had been doing whilst studying meant that I had the required knowledge and experience to qualify early. Being promoted to Associate last year is another. It’s nice to know that you are appreciated by your employers for the hard work that you are doing and that it is being recognised.
Another proud moment(s) would be anytime I get a result for my clients. One moment that does stay with me, which I am very proud of is a claim I was dealing with at the beginning of lockdown. I was acting for a child who was involved in a road traffic accident. On inception, it wasn’t particularly high value. The injuries were soft tissue but included a significant psychological injury. My valuation of the medical evidence was significantly higher than the Defendant’s valuation and so we were not able to reach a resolution of the claim. Proceedings were issued and the claim proceeded to an oral hearing where the Court awarded the claimant a sum in compensation only marginally higher than my own valuation of the claim. So in effect the claimant had beaten their own offer. This was an increase of 150% on the Defendant’s offer and resulted in the claimant also being awarded a 10% uplift and interest on her damages. I am so glad that I remained steadfast in my views and that the client trusted my advice.
What do your children think of your job?
It’s probably only in the last few years that my children have taken any interest in my job. When Covid came about and we were in the first lockdown, both my children were still at primary school. It was only when I was then working from home and they could see me working that they then started to show a bit more of in interest. Although initially they thought my job was just talking on the phone (apparently I was doing that a lot!) and sitting at a computer. However, my daughter who is now about to start her GCSE’s has indicated an interest in pursuing a career in law as to quote her “it looks fun and interesting”. I don’t think she’s wrong, so I guess I must be a fairly good role model for them!
And a bonus question, how do you unwind?
We adopted a rescue dog during the covid-19 pandemic so many weekends are spent walking him. There are lots of lovely walks near where I live so we are spoilt for choice. It’s a nice way to relax and de-stress. It’s more stressful persuading the children to come with us! I am also an avid reader. I said in my bio that I read “chick lit” but I also like a good murder mystery or psychological thriller. There is nothing better (in my opinion) than curling up with a good book and getting lost in another world. If I could, I would sit and read all day. Maybe, I’ll get to do that when I retire!