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  • ‘Donna Downes is a very senior and experienced family lawyer. Her reputation with the courts and associated professionals is second to none. She provides excellent support in relation to case preparation and is always on top of the copious amounts of evidence produced in public law children proceedings.’

  • ‘Donna Downes is the go to solicitor for public law children cases in Hertfordshire. Her knowledge and experience of representing parties in cases involving children who have suffered non-accidental injury, death and neglect is second to none. Her representation of vulnerable parents and young people is second to none. She is collaborative when needed but always robust in putting the needs of her clients first. Her attention to detail is impressive but her case management is tempered by the human experience making her an outstanding lawyer.’

  • ‘An excellent and well polished family law team. Instructed by guardians in complex and difficult matters. I dedicated and hard-working set who has a good market share of public law proceedings.’

  • ‘Donna Downes is an outstanding solicitor who works tirelessly for her clients and has an excellent grasp of the legalities in the cases which she is involved. She has excellent contacts and respect with experts and is able to manage brilliantly the task of arranging experts and professionals to be trial ready. She is the shining gem of Collins family law.’

  • ‘Donna Downes is a formidable mentor and exceptional lawyer. She is committed to provide legal representation to protect children from significant harm such as honour based violence, child sexual abuse, non-accidental injury, gang violence, drug and alcohol addiction, physical and emotional abuse, neglect.'

  • 'Danielle Messenger is meticulous in her preparation and is highly regarded for her robust, calm and approachable manner. She is equipped to litigate on such matters or creatively negotiate the terms of settlement.’

  • ‘Danielle Messenger was excellent from start to finish. Very professional. Explained everything I didn’t understand very clearly. Was easy to get hold of and no issue to big or small. Went above and beyond and made sure no stone was ever unturned. Would highly recommend her for family court. ’

  • ‘Danielle Messenger was absolutely magnificent throughout and really helped me cope with a very complex divorce and supported me personally and professionally. She was efficient, quick, direct and very thorough making the process less stressful for me and concluded speedily.’

  • The team led by Donna Downes is superbly organised.
  • Donna Downes is a force of nature! She is supremely organised, thorough and with an exceptional attention to detail that never compromises the bigger picture. Her negotiation skills are great.
  • I would not hesitate in recommending you to anyone requiring first class conveyancing services.
  • Done quickly and Paul was a pleasure to deal with.
  • Sympathetic to a difficult situation.
  • Kept me informed at all times and I could always talk to somebody.
  • Very pleased with the service, which lacked unnecessary formality and was professional throughout.
  • Donna will always go above and beyond on any case she is working on.
  • Excellent communication and advice.
  • You could not improve your service, it was excellent throughout.
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Advice is available by either calling us on 0800 731 5821, or email us at collins@collinslaw.co.uk, tweet us at @collins_law.

Home > Our People > Julie Taberer

Julie Taberer

Julie is a Senior Associate with over 20 years’ experience working exclusively in the field of personal injury since qualifying.  She has worked on a wide variety of cases, including clinical negligence, serious injury/major trauma, and sexual abuse cases.

Julie has also represented many clients in their application to the Lambeth Redress Scheme for compensation for historic sexual abuse and in some cases recovered significant levels of financial compensation above the scheme’s financial limit.  She also worked on the Sexual Abuse Inquiry.

Julie’s current clinical negligence cases include claims for traumatic birth injuries, delayed diagnosis of cancer and cases where surgical errors have had a significant impact on her clients. Her serious personal injury cases include accidents at work, road traffic accidents, fatal accident claims and historic sexual abuse cases. 

Julie also works on Infected Blood Compensation cases, assisting many of our clients with their claims to the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, advocating for them,  ensuring the relevant documents are provided to IBCA, evidencing the correct infection dates are used, as well as relevant dates for any changes in severity levels and where relevant the correct diagnosis date is used,  so the correct amount of compensation is offered as well as checking the final calculations to ensure they are correct.  Julie is quick to spot any errors in her clients compensation offers and takes immediate steps to rectify this.

Many of Julie’s clients have experienced events which can be traumatic, difficult, and challenging for them and their loved ones to cope with and this can often be life changing. Her focus is one of support and engaging with insurers to work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome for her clients.  She helps them unravel and understand what can be a complicated process and helps them secure funding for treatment where possible as well as compensation for their physical and psychological injuries as well as future needs.

Julie has also worked on the Infected Blood Inquiry, as well as a group action arising out of the infected blood scandal where our clients were infected as children while attending boarding school.

Julie was previously a member of an NHS Research Ethics Committee where her role was to review proposed research from an ethical viewpoint and help to decide whether the research should be approved. This assisted in protecting patients and the public whilst promoting good ethical research.

Contact Julie on jtaberer@collinslaw.co.uk

Collins Solicitors
20 Station Road,
Watford,
Herts
WD17 1AR
T: 01923 223324
DX: 51516 Watford 2
E: collins@collinslaw.co.uk
VAT Registration No: 653 3264 44
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Collins Solicitors is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Number: 79933