Kennedys sets up in Newmarket

Insurance firm Kennedys is opening an office in Newmarket to cater to its expanding clinical negligence practice.

The move follows the firm's appointment to the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA) legal panel in East Anglia in January (The Lawyer, 15 January).

Partners John Chapman and John Lapraik will head the office under group head Janet Sayers, who will split her time between London and Newmarket.

Chapman, Lapraik and nine associates joined Kennedys from Mills & Reeve after the firm failed to retain its position on the NHSLA panel.

But Chapman says that Mills & Reeve's failure to make the grade was not a reflection on the East Anglia team.

"Kennedys wouldn't have taken our team if it didn't think we were good," he says. "The NHSLA is aware of the merger of our two teams and we have its blessing."