James Winterbottom

Areas of Practice

Clinical Negligence

High Value Personal Injury

Commercial Dispute Resolution

Civil Litigation

Recent Notable Cases

A Word:

From the start of my career, I had my heart set on litigation. To me, being a litigator, fighting and winning cases, is what law is all about. Following my training in the South West, I took up a role with a Manchester firm. Whilst there were lots of positives, I felt the approach was too much towards “high volume, low quality” – I wanted somewhere where we were striving to be the best in the industry, and where I had a chance of being recognised amongst the best in the profession. In 2014 I joined Aston Knight Solicitors, a relatively new firm. Ayoub, who had started the firm, shared my viewpoint as to what as important i.e. quality above everything else, so it felt like what I’d been looking for ever since I qualified.

During my time here I feel like I have developed into a far better solicitor than I could ever have imagined being before. The chance to work with leading barristers, the best expert witnesses and high value cases (some of which have been reported in national newspapers) has been a fantastic experience and I hope I can be part of growing it even further.

Greatest Moment:

Winning a case at trial, without a barrister, for a young lady. It was a tough case – there were two potential defendants and both adopted an extremely difficult stance. I was convinced the case could be won with the right tactics and decided to take it to trial. A week before the trial it felt like everything was going wrong – one defendant started introducing new evidence/points to weaken the case and the barrister pulled out as he didn’t think the case could be won. Solicitors ordinarily never undertake a trial themselves, but the client could not afford a barrister privately so it was a choice of leaving her to suffer an injustice or to do the trial myself. At her request I took conduct of the trial and went up against a very experienced barrister on the other side. Waiting for judgment at the end of the day, my heart was pounding and when the judge confirmed we had won the feeling was like nothing I can describe. Driving back home that evening, replaying such a challenge in my mind, it felt like it was what life was all about.