YORK personal injury lawyer, Dianna Bamforth, is setting up her own practice after her employer, law firm Ingrams, sold its personal injury division.

Ingrams, which has offices in York and Hull, has sold most of its personal injury cases to Neil Hudgell Solicitors, which is based in Leeds and Hull.

But Dianna said she has retained some of her clients to set up her own practice, Ardent Law, which will launch in October.

The firm will now look to redeploy the two personal injury solicitors that worked alongside Dianna in York, and two more in Hull, into other areas of law, said Dianna.

Dianna said that unlike her fellow partners at Ingrams, she believed there was a future in personal injury and clinical negligence in the York area.

She said: “People think that most claims for clinical negligence and industrial diseases are based in Leeds and Hull but I still have a lot of good clients round here.”

Dianna attended Park Lane Law College in Leeds while working as a trainee at a solicitors in Bradford. She launched Ingrams in York with business partners in 2001 as an associate partner before she was even fully qualified as a legal executive in 2003.

Neil Hudgell Solicitors launched webuyanyfiles.com earlier this year, a website aimed at law firms offering to buy their find personal injury clients.

It has already bought two practices and has more in the pipeline, it said.

The firm said it is moving towards greater specialisation before the law changes in October to allow Alternative Business Structures, which means insurance companies and supermarkets could offer legal services.

Ingrams, which employs 50 people in York, said it planned to focus on a broad range of services including wills, probate, civil litigation, employment law, debt recovery and residential and commercial conveyancing.

Paul Stott, managing partner, said: “Personal injury work has been an integral part of Ingrams Solicitors’ services since the practice was established more than ten years ago. However recent changes in the legal industry have brought about a change in our business strategy which has seen us enter into this agreement with Neil Hudgell Solicitors.”