Our People
Doug Fraser
Solicitor and Partner
Doug Fraser has spent much of his career acting for people who had been seriously injured or killed at work. A bit like his mentor Sir Harry Livermore, Doug likes to represent those who have been injured because of the lack of care of employers or drivers. He still gets a thrill out of winning cases in which blame for the accident has been denied by an employers or driver’s Insurance Company. He firmly believes that if you are injured because of someone else’s fault you should receive adequate compensation for the injury and financial losses you sustain.
Doug qualified as a Solicitor in 1982 and joined Silverman Livermore the same year and was made a partner shortly afterwards. Doug now heads the Personal Injury Department at the Runcorn office and is a Member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel and Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
Doug has recovered millions of pounds of compensation for clients over the years and whilst many of the awards are modest he has secured settlements of over £1 million on several occasions and remains in touch with a lot of clients as their choice of Co-Trustee to provide the best ongoing financial returns from their compensation awards.
In 1990 Doug was consulted by a number of families throughout the UK who had lost a loved one when they had fallen from high speed inter city trains when doors opened apparently for no reason at high speed. A pattern of such accidents soon emerged and as a result of the litigation led by Doug - electronic locking devises were fitted to all trains to prevent future tragedies.
He also has extensive experience attending Inquests over many years.
Doug had previously been appointed a Deputy District Judge sitting at Courts in Chester and the North Wales region from 1992 to 2000.
In 2010, Doug settled over 1,000 claims for people who had been adversely affected by the escape of sewage odour from the Sandon Dock Waste Water Treatment Plant in Liverpool ... a global settlement of £4M was achieved and this was shared between a large number of registered Claimants.
Despite his sometimes high profile Doug continues to deal with smaller cases and is happy to offer an entirely free initial consultation to anyone who has been injured with a view to advising them as to whether or not they are entitled to receive compensation.
Areas of expertise include:
- Multi-Party Actions
- Accidents at work
- Public Liability Claims (slip/trip)
- Occupiers Liability Claims (slip/trip)
- Product Liability Claims
- Criminal Injuries Compensation Claims (C.I.C.A)
- Road Traffic Accident
- Industrial Disease Claims
- Clinical Negligence Claims
- Probate
- Contested Probate
- Wills & Trusts
Karen Wishart
Solicitor and Partner
Karen obtained her Degree in Law at Liverpool University and joined Silverman Livermore in 1990 as a Solicitor and became a Partner in 1992. Karen is the Head of the Family Law Department, specialising in all aspects of Family Law gaining expertise and experience in the field over the last 35 years, and is a member of the Law Society Family Law Advance Panel.
Karen has a large amount of experience in handling complex and sensitive cases with a friendly no nonsense approach, aiming to resolve, support and guide clients through what can be a stressful and confusing process for a beneficial conclusion of each case.
Karen’s areas of expertise include:
- Divorce and Separation
- Child Care Cases
- Contact Issues
- Cohabitation Disputes
- Pre-Nuptial Agreements
- Dissolution of Civil Marriage
- Child Protection Issues
- Domestic Violence/Injunctions
- Financial/Property Disputes (Tolata – Trust of Land Law and Trust Act)
- Adoption
- Change of Name
- Wills