29 July 2010
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14 December 2009
Keoghs boosts fraud expertise with associate trio
Specialist insurance law firm Keoghs LLP has hired three new associates to handle increasing demand for its fraud-related legal services.
Miles Hepworth and Elaine Ibbotson join Keoghs’ recently formed Complex Fraud team from Greenwoods Solicitors.
Mr Hepworth - who specialises in motor fraud including low speed impacts, staged and contrived accidents, bogus passengers and fraudulent credit hire claims - will be based at Keoghs’ Coventry office, where he will also be responsible for technical supervision of the fraud team and fee earner development.
Ms Ibbotson, who has handled motor fraud claims for insurers and self-insured organisations for over five years, will focus on high-value and technically demanding cases.
James Stevens joins from Weightmans’ Manchester office, where he was fraud team manager.
He will now be responsible for the technical development of Keoghs’ Fraud Rings unit and deal with complicated motor claims involving multiple claimants and organised fraud gangs.
James Heath, director of counter-fraud strategy at Keoghs, said: “This year alone, we have helped some of the UK’s largest insurers to avoid paying out more than £48m on suspicious claims.
“Now, with the Association of British Insurers forecasting an unabated rise in fraud, we are continuing to grow the size and technical capabilities of our specialist teams.
“In the current financial year, we have already forecasted a 50% increase in our fraud caseload - this is indicative of the size of the challenge currently facing the insurance industry.”
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Miles Hepworth and Elaine Ibbotson join Keoghs’ recently formed Complex Fraud team from Greenwoods Solicitors.
Mr Hepworth - who specialises in motor fraud including low speed impacts, staged and contrived accidents, bogus passengers and fraudulent credit hire claims - will be based at Keoghs’ Coventry office, where he will also be responsible for technical supervision of the fraud team and fee earner development.
Ms Ibbotson, who has handled motor fraud claims for insurers and self-insured organisations for over five years, will focus on high-value and technically demanding cases.
James Stevens joins from Weightmans’ Manchester office, where he was fraud team manager.
He will now be responsible for the technical development of Keoghs’ Fraud Rings unit and deal with complicated motor claims involving multiple claimants and organised fraud gangs.
James Heath, director of counter-fraud strategy at Keoghs, said: “This year alone, we have helped some of the UK’s largest insurers to avoid paying out more than £48m on suspicious claims.
“Now, with the Association of British Insurers forecasting an unabated rise in fraud, we are continuing to grow the size and technical capabilities of our specialist teams.
“In the current financial year, we have already forecasted a 50% increase in our fraud caseload - this is indicative of the size of the challenge currently facing the insurance industry.”
