A lawyer who has won justice for hundreds of abused children has been honoured for his work.
Peter Garsden, 59, from Macclesfield won the Life Time Achievement honour at the Claims Management Awards after more than two decades seeking compensation for victims of child abuse.
The grandfather of two, who lives in Rainow with wife Jan, is head of the specialist abuse claims department at Manchester law firm Simpson Millar and has represented victims of historic sex abuse and helped establish current law and practise in the area.
He is currently working with four charities in petitioning the Education Secretary to introduce a new law forcing schools, faith groups, sports bodies, the NHS, and nurseries, to inform local authorities of all allegations and incidents of suspected and known abuse. He is also seeking to abolish time limits in child abuse cases.
The decision to offer Peter the award was unanimous by a panel of judges from within the claims industry.
Peter, who is dad to Alexandra and Vanessa and performs with Macclesfield Majestic Theatre Group, said: “I’m delighted to be recognised for the award. “It’s extremely important for clients to have an empathetic and understanding attitude from a solicitor which is what I strive for.
“I am involved in campaigns in the area of child abuse, which includes removing the time limit for abuse victims to come forward, making it mandatory to report abuse cases and for childen in care to have better access to their records.”
One of those judges was Sue Nash, senior consultant with Elite Law Solicitors who recognised Peter’s contribution as being ‘above and beyond’.
Sue said: “Peter has represented victims of historic child sexual abuse since before it was even a recognised practice area. He worked tirelessly to develop a system to track and cross-refer information to corroborate victims’ accounts before anyone had recognised the scale of the problem. His commitment to some of society’s most vulnerable has never wavered – sometimes at great personal and financial cost.”
Peter was a driving force behind the launch of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers which provides specialist training in this area. He has been instructed in over 25 group actions – including one of the largest ever involving child abuse.
