Claire Barnes

I’m a CILEX lawyer and one of the Heads of our Serious Injury department. I oversee the caseloads of our legal teams to help keep our award-winning department running at its best.

I work closely with the Team Leaders in the Serious Injury department, handling complex issues, supporting difficult decisions, and streamlining workflows for optimal results. I find great satisfaction in working with people and am driven by the success of the team as a whole. A key part of my role is also guiding colleagues in their career progression and professional development.

My ‘why’ is people. I would say I’m very people focused and being a part of their development is what I enjoy. This also includes helping them to succeed in their roles. The biggest part of being a Head of Department is understanding the individual team members and how you can get the best from them.

The part of my role that I enjoy the most is the people. I want people to succeed and I will always look for a way to help members of the team develop in their own way. As part of my role, I also need to ensure that the operations side of things progresses effectively. To do this, I need to work closely with the teams and understand both how the teams work together and how the clients need their cases to develop to reach their desired outcome.

I have a young family so the majority of my time is spending time with my two children. I’ve recently taken up running again, this being motivated by a charity run as this had stopped during pregnancy and I needed something to motivate me. It has been on my bucket list to complete a 10K, which is the aim for 2026 for the charity run. I also enjoy spending time with my friendship groups – I’m quite the social butterfly!