Collins Solicitors are delighted to have won not one but two awards at last night’s Modern Law Awards 2025 ceremony – ‘Law Firm of the Year’ and ‘Outstanding Case of the Year’.

Both are important recognition of our determined efforts on behalf of infected blood clients over the years, given the culmination of the Infected Blood Inquiry in May 2024 and the £11.8bn compensation fund for victims subsequently set up by the Government.

We represented the largest victim group during the Inquiry process, of both those directly and indirectly affected by the infected blood scandal.

Senior Partner Des Collins comments: “There can be few regional firms that have had such national prominence these past 12 months and I am extremely proud of what we have achieved.
“Thank you to all staff who contributed to this success and, of course, to our clients for whom we will continue to work tirelessly until long overdue financial recompense is achieved on a personal level.

“We are dedicating these awards to all members of our community who are no longer here to see the light being shone on the wrongs of the past.

“Thank you also to the MLA judges for this double honour. It means a lot.”

ENDS

To interview Des Collins please contact Bell Yard Communications:

Louise Beeson: louise@bell-yard.com / Mob: 07768 956997
Melanie Riley: melanie@bell-yard.com / Mob: 07775 591244

Notes to Editors

The Infected Blood Inquiry, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, was the UK’s largest ever statutory inquiry. It began in July 2018 to examine the circumstances in which patients treated by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s became infected with HIV and Hepatitis due to treatment involving infected blood products. The Inquiry Final Report was published on 20 May 2024. Collins Solicitors represented the largest victim group in the Inquiry – numbering some 1,500 infected and affected clients. It also worked tirelessly alongside various campaign groups within the infected blood community to put the Government under pressure to acknowledge its failings and agree to pay compensation. An £11.8 billion compensation package is now due to be disbursed by the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme and Collins Solicitors continues to support clients in the application process to the scheme.
On 26th February 2025 Collins Solicitors were in the High Court with former pupils of Treloar’s School for the GLO application hearing for their claim against the school. See further details here.

A former case Collins championed between 1999 and 2010 on behalf of mothers whose children suffered birth defects due to the negligent reclamation of the old steelworks in Corby is currently the subject of a Netflix drama series called Toxic Town and a BBC Sounds podcast series called The toxic Waste Scandal.