“John was very enthusiastic and you can see that he is very passionate about the job he does.
This was nice to see”
APIL Past President, Director of Switalskis Solicitors Ltd
John McQuater qualified as a solicitor in 1983 and is a director of Switalskis Solicitors Limited where he is Joint Head of Personal Injury and a member of the Complex Injury Team.
He is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Scheme and a member of the Law Society Personal Injury Accreditation Scheme (as well as being an assessor for that scheme). He had, whilst the scheme was operation, Catastrophic Injury Accreditation from the Law Society.
He is an APIL Accredited Clinical Negligence Specialist, an APIL Accredited Brain Injury Specialist and an APIL Accredited Fatal Accident Specialist (also being an assessor for each of those schemes). He is a solicitor advocate, with rights of audience in the Higher Courts for all civil proceedings.
He is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, with accredited status as a Senior Fellow.
He was elected to the APIL Executive Committee in 2005, was the APIL President from 2009 to 2010, re-elected to the Executive Committee in 2012, became APIL Secretary in 2016 and re-elected as APIL President in 2022.
He is also a member of the Forum of Complex Injury Solicitors, the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association, the Law Management Section of the Law Society, the South Yorkshire Medico-Legal Society and the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates.
He was a member of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee from 2019 and has been on the Law Society Civil Justice Committee from 2020 , becoming Chair of the Civil Justice Committee in 2023.
He provides professional training on a range of subjects including procedure, practice management, occupiers’ liability, contributory negligence, clinical negligence and evidence as well as regular updates on developments in the law. He has chaired sessions, and spoken, at many conferences including the APIL Annual Conference, the APIL Clinical Negligence Conference, the APIL Brain and Spinal Injury Conference and the APIL Business Conference.
Media work includes the BBC Daily Politics Show, BBC Look North, BBC Radio 4, local radio and Talk Radio.
He is the author of ‘Model Letters for Personal Injury Lawyers’ and the ‘APIL Guide to Personal Injury Claims Procedure’. He is also a contributor to the APIL Guide to Clinical Negligence, the APIL Personal Injury Law, Practice and Precedents and the 5th and 6th Editions of Medical Negligence by Michael Jones.
He has had articles published in the Journal of Personal Injury Law, the Solicitors Journal, the New Law Journal, the Legal Executive Journal, Modern Claims Magazine, Bone & Joint 360 and The Times.
He is the Deputy Case Digest Editor, and on the editorial board, of the Journal of Personal Injury Law (published by Thomson Reuters).
He received the degree of LLB in 1979 and in 2007 was awarded the degree of LLM in Advanced Litigation and Dispute Resolution.
In 2001 he received the APIL Newcomer Trainer of the Year award and in 2011 was named Eclipse Proclaim Claimant PI Lawyer of the Year. He was shortlisted in the Yorkshire Legal Awards for Partner of the Year in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022 and also Yorkshire Lawyer of the Year in 2018 and 2022.
He has been described in Chambers UK Guide as maintaining “an excellent reputation in both clinical negligence and personal injury matters” and as being “an encyclopaedia of up to date law and procedure”. He has been described as “widely rated” in the Legal 500. He is highly recommended in Chambers UK as well as being in the Legal 500 list of “Elite Leading Lawyers”.
He is a past president of the Doncaster and District Law Society and a past president of the Yorkshire Union of Law Societies.
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.switalskis.com
Twitter: @JohnMcQuater