Patrick Allen

Patrick Allen qualified as a solicitor in 1977 when he founded Hodge Jones & Allen in Camden with Henry Hodge and Peter Jones. He was the first managing partner and became senior partner following Henry’s retirement in 1998.

The ethos of the firm is to help individuals assert and defend their rights and correct miscarriages of justice. Many of the first cases were funded by the legal aid scheme and legal aid still backs a substantial proportion of the firm’s criminal defence, care and housing cases. HJA now has 230 staff and operates from modern premises close to Euston station.

For the last 25 years, Patrick specialised in complex personal injury and multi-party cases. He was the leader of the HJA team that managed the Gulf War illness claims for UK veterans and the New Cross Fire inquest. He has also managed the MMR and Sheep Dip multi-party actions and played a lead role in the King’s Cross Fire and Marchioness Litigation on behalf of claimants. Patrick acted in many claims for compensation for miscarriage of justice cases against the Home Office.

He served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) from 1993 to 2006, was President of APIL 2003-2004 and APIL Law Society Council Member 2002-2006.

He sat as a Deputy District Judge from 1998 to 2014. He acts as a Deputy for many brain injured clients.

Patrick writes and lectures on personal injury law, costs and management. He is a New Law Journal columnist.

In June 2017 Patrick was awarded the Solicitors Journal 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Patrick is recognised in the Legal 500 and recommended as a ‘Senior Statesman’ in Chambers UK, A Client’s Guide to the Legal Profession 2017.