A Hertfordshire woman who knew she wanted to be a lawyer at 14 has landed a top role with a national campaign organisation.
As a teenager Nikki Ealey knew she wanted to work in a job that made a real difference to people’s lives, and today she works as a personal injury lawyer. She specialises in securing support, rehabilitation, and compensation for people who have suffered catastrophic brain and spinal injuries.
Now she has been appointed to the executive committee of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
Nikki works at Nockolds based in Bishop’s Stortford. Her cases have included helping a teenager who was burned on a Duke of Edinburgh trip and a patient who suffered pressure sores and deep tissue injuries due to substandard hospital care.
She also represented a cyclist who was left with life-changing injuries after a road crash and a scaffolder who was seriously injured at work.
“I’m really pleased to be appointed to the small-to-medium size firm seat on APIL’s executive committee,” said Nikki, who qualified as a solicitor in 2020.
“APIL campaigns for the rights of injured people who need compensation to help them recover and rebuild their lives, which is something I’m really passionate about.
“Successive governments have introduced policies that have undermined people’s access to justice and the principle of 100 per cent compensation. But access to justice and compensation enables better recoveries, helps get people back to work, and reduces dependency on welfare payments,
“APIL lobbies policymakers to always put injured people first when drawing up legislation - and to not treat them as some kind of burden,” said Nikki.
“No-one expects to be seriously injured, but the reality is it could happen to any one of us. The work APIL does is so important for victims of negligence,” she added.
Outside work Nikki teaches swimming to youngsters. She is a qualified lifesaving coach, and volunteers as a flood rescue technician and boat operator for Hertfordshire Boat Rescue.