The private client arm of law firm Shoosmiths has expanded its medical negligence team in Birmingham and with the hire of three solicitors from Thompsons.

Kashmir Uppal joins Access Legal as a partner, Michael Burrell as a senior associate and Sharon Banga as an associate.

Ms Uppal was also a partner at Thompsons where she jointly headed up the national clinical negligence team and ran the local Birmingham-based team.

She has previously run multi-million claims for children who have suffered catastrophic brain injury at birth and high-value amputation and fatality cases.

Mr Burrell's expertise is predominately in amputation claims, fatal injuries and spinal damage and birth injuries.

Earlier this year, he was responsible for recovering in excess of £1 million compensation for a client left paralysed following a delay in the diagnosis of a spinal abscess while in hospital.

Completing the trio of new appointments is Sharon Banga who has represented claimants in a wide range of cases arising from misdiagnosis of fractures, delays in diagnosis of cancer, birth injuries, surgical error, spinal injuries and amputation cases.

She is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel and has considerable experience in dealing with fatality claims as well as claims involving severe injuries where ongoing care and other needs must be assessed.

Phil Barnes, partner and national head of medical negligence at Access Legal, said: "We are delighted to have Kashmir, Michael and Sharon on board.

"Their experience and excellent reputation for representing claimants in high-value and high-profile medical negligence claims and their focus on delivering the best results for their clients will further enhance the team’s excellent local and national reputation."