Kelly Barnett

Principal Associate

What can I do for you

Kelly works with insured professionals and their insurers to defend and resolve professional negligence claims. She specialises in defending claims made against solicitors, construction professionals and loss adjusters, and delivers training on these subjects.

Kelly also investigates and advises insurers on policy coverage issues and has been on secondment to the claims team of a large multinational insurance broker.

What do others say

An insurer client on multi-party loss adjusters claim was impressed with Kelly’s “understanding of the claim” having “quickly built up a good rapport with the insured”, and the insured described the outcome at mediation as “a job well done”.

A solicitor client recently referred to “Kelly’s absolutely excellent idea” and said they “really appreciated the support you gave us”.

Supporting your ambitions

Kelly was recently instructed to defend a multimillion pound claim against an insured, including allegations of fraud, three weeks before a substantial hearing where we resisted the insured being joined to existing proceedings. The claim was complex procedurally and multi-jurisdictional, but we quickly identified the issues and the clients’ objectives, obtained specialist advice from our "best friend" firm in Poland, and were successful at the hearing, with indemnity costs awarded in our favour. This was a great result for our clients who we worked with closely throughout.

What else should you know?

Kelly is diversity officer for Birmingham Chartered Insurance Institute and organises a range of events in Birmingham, including Dive In. Kelly’s interest in this area led her to join the diversity and inclusion steering group here at Mills & Reeve. As chair of our disability working group, she is currently leading an important firm project with the Business Disability Forum.

What our clients say about us

“I think Mills & Reeve are a wonderful firm. The support they have provided to us in a really difficult area has been brilliant, collaborative and commercially minded. The team were absolutely wonderful and a joy to work with. Amazing advice and support and a real collaborative effort with us. I can't thank them enough for getting us through some really tough times and doing so with an amazing can-do attitude.”

“They are friendly, fast, always available and always on top of the game. I tend to judge my legal team against the other side's legal team and never doubt Mills & Reeve is the better of the two.”

“All interactions have been very clear. Responses to questions have always been very swift and unambiguous. Our company, and my family, have used various services in Mills & Reeve with the same level of satisfaction.”

“I value the fact that Mills & Reeve are recognised as a good place to work in the UK Best Companies survey. This aligns with the values of our business and means that Mills & Reeve can share what is required to achieve this status with our business.”

As many clients will testify, too many lawyers deliver the required legal expertise but fail to deliver an outstanding client experience. Which is why we always listen to our clients and constantly ask ourselves what we can do to deliver the results you expect.

You expect a close and attentive working relationship, with a lawyer that is responsive and available when you need them. You also want clear, pragmatic and commercial advice tailored to your needs, and transparency and certainty on costs. We completely agree. That’s why every day, through our culture and approach we are committed to delivering the exceptional results and service our clients expect of us.