Brennan voted in as chair of PI association

LEADING personal injury barrister Daniel Brennan QC has been elected chair of the newly formed Personal Injuries Bar Association (PIBA).

And his first major task will be to influence conditional fee arrangements due to come into force in the near future.

At a well-attended meeting at Gray's Inn earlier this month around 200 barristers gathered to approve the new association's constitution. A motion calling for the PIBA committee to take urgent action over conditional fees was also passed.

At a committee meeting last week, Brennan, of Colin Mackay QC's set at 39 Essex Street, was voted in as the group's first chair.

The group is the brainchild of Matthias Kelly, a personal injury specialist based at John Melville-Williams' Old Square Chambers.

Kelly, group secretary, says there is still time for the group to influence conditional fee arrangements. "We've been invited by the Lord Chancellor's Department to comment on the conditional fees proposals and have set up a working party to do that. We will also be monitoring conditional fees once they come into force."