Personal Injury ATE Insurance – Key Contacts

Matthew Best Cert CII

Matt has an insurance background and joined Temple in 2011 having worked for 4 years in a leading insurance company where he was dealing with personal injury work. Matthew was promoted to Underwriting Manager and subsequently Senior Underwriting Manager taking on overall responsibility for Temple’s personal injury and clinical negligence underwriting department.

In 2022 Matt joined the board of directors as Director of ATE Partnerships. Matthew has cultivated fantastic relationships with our business partners for many years. His ability to build a clear understanding of their requirements and more importantly what is required to fulfil such requirements means he is ideally placed to support the strategic direction of the company.

Matt remains the head of the personal injury and clinical negligence department and is committed to all Temple’s business partners in order to deliver the highest level of service they expect. He is also responsible in making sure that Temple’s ATE and disbursement funding products remain competitive, but most importantly that they are fit for purpose for solicitors and their clients.

John Durbin

John joined Temple in 2022 and brings with him over 19 years’ experience in the legal expenses industry, with 17 of these specifically relating to ATE insurance.

As Senior Business Development Manager, John’s role has him covering the breadth of the UK, meeting with Temple’s existing business partners as well as establishing new business relationships. Whilst his primary focus is growing and developing our clinical negligence and personal injury offerings, which can include disbursement funding, he is also very able to discuss Temple’s commercial and BTE products.

John is well known in the industry for making business partners feel at ease when they meet. He prides himself on understanding customers’ needs and being able to work collaboratively, which frequently results in established working relationships for many years.

Tadgh Kelly

Having completed internships at the European Commission in Brussels and the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, Tadgh went on to qualify as a practising solicitor in 2008.

Tadgh spent more than 18 years in private legal practice with Pearts Solicitors, Dublin where he was primarily involved in property disputes, personal injury, medical negligence, judicial review, high value commercial residential property transactions, and trust and probate planning.

Tadgh joined Temple Legal Protection Ireland as Senior Underwriting Manager in 2024 to head up Temple Legal Protection’s expansion into the Irish and European markets.

His knowledge of the commercial legal sector and litigation practice is invaluable to the business and our clients in Ireland, providing specialist local knowledge and experience to our solicitor clients.

David Stoker, LL.B (Hons)

David joined Temple in 2015 having previously been an underwriter for another ATE insurance provider for nearly 9 years dealing with all aspects of personal injury work.

David’s experience allows him to undertake a key role in Temple’s ATE insurance personal injury and clinical negligence teams. He also participates in the assessments of delegated schemes that Temple provide with the objective of helping our customers make the most of the products and services Temple has to offer.

David has a LLB honours degree in law and also completed the Legal Practice Course at Guildford College of Law obtaining a commendation. He has worked as a personal injury case handler for 2 firms of solicitors post-graduation before moving into LEI.

Peter Cornish

Peter has spent 40 years as a Personal Injury Lawyer specialising in all types of Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence litigation. He has worked solely as a claimant litigator pursuing industrial accidents, asbestos disease cases and a mixture of clinical negligence cases.

He has been involved in numerous multi-track cases and has won compensation for his clients in excess of 10 million pounds. Peter specialised in industrial accidents in the workplace for a number of years whilst working with Evill and Coleman, Seifert Sedley Williams and Lawfords, building up a reputation as someone who ensures the client always comes first.

He went onto to manage his own Legal Services company whilst a Consultant with Scott-Moncrieff, Harbour and Sinclair and more recently Amwells solicitors.

Peter has been successfully running his business for 15 years and joined Temple as a Senior Underwriter in 2017.

As a Senior Underwriter within the Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence team Peter is responsible for assessing risks along with the day to day enquiries relating to existing policies.

He is also available to help with any underwriting questions to ensure customers are getting the best out of their ATE and funding products.

Lisa Fricker

Lisa has many years’ experience in the Legal Insurance industry, having worked for both DAS Legal Expenses and ARAG Legal Services. She has extensive knowledge of both the BTE and ATE markets, and a great insight into the inner workings of a legal firm due to her vast experience as an auditor. Lisa is used to working closely with solicitors to develop and maintain good working relationships, leading to positive partnerships for all parties. 

Lisa joined Temple in 2017 as the Solicitor Services Manager to manage the internal and external review process, as well as overseeing our BTE panel arrangements. 

In 2022, Lisa was promoted to Head of Solicitor Services & Quality Assurance to further cement her senior position within the company and to continue to drive our quality control procedures throughout the business forwards as the company grows. She further acquired the responsibility of managing our Underwriting Support Team to help drive our continued development plan for aspiring Underwriters. 

Lisa is focused on ensuring that the quality of service provided by Temple remains at the highest standard. 

As well as her main responsibilities, Lisa oversees our charitable endeavours and is the company Mental Health First Aider, taking an active role in ensuring the Health & Wellbeing of our staff. 

Mandy Dimmer

Mandy joined Temple in 2014 as Senior Underwriting Assistant within the Underwriting Support Team and has recently been promoted to Assistant Underwriting Support Manager.

Mandy’s role is to provide support to the Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence team by issuing quotations, policies and endorsements, organising and attending external reviews, and contributing to the smooth running of the team. In addition Mandy also assists with the day to day administration in respect of Temple Funding.

She brings with her nine years of experience with a previous ATE provider. Mandy has recently gained her Certificate in Insurance and is now Cert CII.

Morag Lewis

Morag has a legal background and joined Temple in 2022 after working for over three years at a Surrey law firm, where she assisted with personal injury and clinical negligence cases, along with some dispute resolution matters.

Her experience equips her to contribute effectively to Temple’s ATE insurance personal injury and clinical negligence teams.

As an Advanced Paralegal (MCILEX), Morag is now preparing to take her insurance exams, which will enable her to further develop her skills within the company and continue delivering excellent service to Temple’s customers.

Sukhbir Kaur

Sukhbir has an LLB honours degree in Law, she also completed the Legal Practice Course obtaining a Commendation.

She qualified as a Solicitor in 2020, she has worked in the personal injury sector for over a decade.

She joined the Commercial team at Temple Legal Protection as an Underwriter, in 2023.

Prior to joining Temple, Sukhbir worked in the Serious Injury team doing multi track work at a leading Law firm, dealing with injuries arising from road traffic accidents, accidents in the work place and public.

Her background has led her to have an interest in risk insurance.

Oliver White

Oliver is an Underwriter who joined Temple in 2022 as an Underwriting Support Assistant. He became a Trainee Underwriter in September 2023 and completed his training in August 2024. Oliver holds an LLB in Law from the University of Exeter, having graduated in 2020. His legal background equips him with a strong understanding of the legal issues relevant to cases referred to Temple, enabling him to make efficient and accurate underwriting decisions.

Oliver works across both the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury and Commercial teams, reviewing referred cases and determining coverage. He also manages delegated authority schemes, acting as the primary point of contact for these firms and ensuring that Temple continues to meet their ATE insurance needs.

In 2024, Oliver took leadership of the Northern Ireland project, taking on full responsibility for its management and direction.

Shelley Carrick-Forrester

Shelley joined Temple in 2022 just after finishing her Graduate Diploma in Law, which converted her teaching qualification into a law degree.

Initially joining Temple as an Underwriting Support Assistant, Shelley has now progressed to Trainee Underwriter.

Having worked as a medical secretary, before deciding to study law, Shelley has a sound background for working in the area of clinical negligence and personal injury.

She is focused on delivering great customer service with good communication and attention to detail.

Taffy Kuzipa

Taffy is a Senior Underwriting Support Assistant within the Personal and Clinical Negligence team.

Before joining Temple, Taffy worked as a caseworker for a non-profit organisation. Interacting with different people and working in various areas of law allows her to deal with any ATE enquiries and general underwriting issues that may arise.

Taffy graduated in 2018 with a 2.1 LLB Law (Hons) degree from Oxford Brookes University. Her academic background has led to her interest in legal insurance and working for Temple.

Sophie Locke

Sophie joined Temple in 2023 and assists in the Business Support Team.

Previously working as an Administrator at Guildford Family & County Court, she has experience within Legal Administration, understanding how to effectively communicate and provide good customer service to all types of consumers as well as working to strict deadlines.

Sophie has a fine attention to detail and takes pride in providing a high quality service to our consumers.

In the near future, she plans to further her professional education by studying LLB Law.

Yaiza Maldonado

Yaiza joined Temple Legal Protection in 2023 as an Underwriting Support Assistant. She graduated in 2012 with a Tourism degree from the University of Valencia in Spain and has since accumulated valuable experience in the claims industry, particularly in travel and medical insurance.

With over 9 years of diverse administration and customer service roles across various industries, Yaiza brings a wealth of expertise to her current position. Having lived in Spain, worked internationally, and fluently speaking 4 languages, she demonstrates adaptability and versatility in navigating different work cultures.

Yaiza is committed to delivering exceptional service and experiences to all customers. As she looks forward, she is eager to expand her knowledge within the legal sector and advance her career at Temple.

Priti Gurung

Priti joined Temple Legal Protection in 2023 as an underwriting support assistant. Priti has a rich background in the financial industry, that boasts a comprehensive skill set as a Mortgage, Insurance and Estates Planning Adviser.

With over eight years of experience in the financial industry and a 13-year history in a customer-focused environment, Priti brings a unique perspective to the role of underwriting assistant.

Holding a CII certification and a degree in business studies with law, Priti brings a unique blend of academic knowledge and hands-on experience to support the underwriting process.