Kevin Donoghue, Solicitor Director of Donoghue Solicitors.
“Everyone needs a solicitor at some point in their lives. I wake up every day thinking about how to make using a lawyer as easy as possible.” -Kevin Donoghue, solicitor director
Kevin Donoghue is a solicitor and director of Donoghue Solicitors, an award-winning firm of compensation claims lawyers. Kevin has fought for claimants’ rights for more than 21 years.
Kevin Donoghue was shortlisted for the Outstanding Lawyer Award at the 2023 Liverpool Law Society Legal Awards.
Kevin Donoghue’s Role Within the Firm
Mr Donoghue is our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice and for Finance & Administration. (The main compliance roles within a solicitor’s practice.) He looks after all aspects of the firm’s legal and financial issues. These include management, marketing, compliance, human resources, and technology.
But Kevin is not just an office manager. He is a “hands on” solicitor who represents claimants throughout England and Wales. For example:
- in this Buzzfeed News report you can find out how he helped Nigel Lang of Sheffield recover £60,000 in his data protection breach compensation claim.
- this case report shows how Kevin helped one Cardiff-based client receive over £70,000 compensation from South Wales Police.
- in this case study read how he helped Mr Elliot of Grimsby get £37,500 compensation from Humberside Police after his unlawful arrest and prosecution
Read more case reports about Donoghue Solicitors’ UK-based clients here.
A voice for the voiceless!
– Gemma Rowinski
Kevin Donoghue was interviewed by Sky News about police sexual abuse cases.
Professional Accreditations and Memberships
Kevin Donoghue is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. See his official details on the Law Society’s website here. He is also an active member of the following organisations:
- Police Action Lawyers Group
- Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
- Inquest
- Liberty
- Professional Negligence Lawyers Association
- Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
- Liverpool Law Society
I sincerely think he is one of the most honourable solicitors that l have met.
-Altho Sutt
High Value and Complex Claims Lawyer
Mr Donoghue handles some of the most serious litigation claims lawyers come across. Among many other cases, these include:
- deaths at work and in custody
- £1 million plus compensation claims
- serious police misconduct claims including matters involving malicious prosecution and misfeasance in pubic office, and sexual abuse.
His reputation led to The Law Society Gazette (the solicitors’ trade paper) profiling Kevin as their “lawyer in the news”:
Why You Can Trust Kevin Donoghue With Your Claim
Kevin Donoghue has a proven track record of success with compensation claims. He has helped claimants get justice for over 21 years, a long time in a profession as challenging as the law. Mr Donoghue can only do this because he considers the law his “calling”. Fighting for claimants’ rights is what he was born to do. This is why he has faith in the clients he represents. Kevin has the confidence to take cases to trial and win. (Read this case report to find out more.)
Mr Donoghue’s fellow solicitors know this too. They trust him to handle their compensation claims. His clients include other lawyers, such as a criminal solicitor who needed help to remove her biometric data, a service we also provide to members of the public.
Where appropriate, Kevin represents clients on a no win no fee basis. This means that claimants can seek justice even if they can’t afford to pay a solicitor privately. (Please note: Donoghue Solicitors do not represent clients on legal aid. Our Law Society listing wrongly says we offer it. We have notified them of the error.)
Read what Kevin’s clients think of him on Google, Facebook, ReviewSolicitors, and Freeindex.
Kevin Donoghue was very sympathetic to our distress and clearly took us through our options and timescales before anything would happen…Kevin regularly called us in person to keep us up to date with the case… I would definitely recommend their services to anyone in a similar situation.
-David Williams
Kevin Donoghue discussed the police’s use of strip searches on children on Sky News.
Legal Expertise in the Media
Kevin’s reputation and success led to him becoming a trusted expert to the media when discussing legal matters. He is especially well-known for presenting the claimants’ side in civil actions against the police claims and regularly discusses this area of law on tv and radio. (You can see him on Sky News, BBC tv, ITV tv by clicking on the links. Listen to him discuss spit hoods on BBC Wales radio here.)
He also helps journalists with in-depth programmes involving police misconduct. These include the BBC Newsnight team and documentary film-makers for Channel 4’s Dispatches.
End credits from Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary “Cops on Trial”.
As well as tv and radio, Mr Donoghue promotes claimants’ rights in the print and online media. Some examples include:
- insight on this BBC article about being de-arrested
- BBC website reporting about Kevin’s client Daniel Rodriguez-Lay
- in this Justice Gap article Kevin discussed many issues involving police misconduct
- read how he helped one client in Newcastle get justice in this Sunday Post newspaper article
- Kevin was interviewed on camera and quoted in this Sky News article about the Metropolitan Police’s use of strip searches of children.
- Kevin provided valuable legal insight to journalists reporting on the right to protest during the period of Royal Mourning and Queen’s funeral. Reporters for the BBC, ITV News, and Insider (MSN) quoted him extensively.
there isn’t enough stars in your rating ratio to show give you guys the credibility you deserve
-Mark Pleavin
Professional Training and Appearances
Mr Donoghue teaches other lawyers about civil actions against the police and police abuse of authority for sexual gain compensation claims.
Kevin also takes part in expert panels. His professional appearances include one at a Police Federation conference. There Mr Donoghue argued for the rights and protection of the public who come into contact with the police. (Read Kevin’s blog post about the conference here.)
I was recently represented by Kevin Donoghue…. He made the process very easy, and all of the staff at the firm are extremely professional.
-Dylan McDermott
Expertise Shared in Legal Publications
Kevin also writes technical articles for legal publications such as:
- the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers newsletter. Kevin discussed the complex and evolving issue of vicarious liability in his article: Is Vicarious Liability Finished After Trustees of the Barry
Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB? - the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers PI Update magazine. The magazine is read by the organisation’s 3,200 lawyer members. In this article Kevin explained to his fellow professionals why the Court of Appeal rejected a professional negligence claim against solicitors
- in the Personal Injury Law Journal he discussed what every lawyer must know about civil actions against the police
- Donoghue Solicitors’ own blog. Examples include:
- this three-part piece about the effects of police militarisation
- many blog posts about spit hoods and police body worn cameras
- in-depth commentary on sexual misconduct within the police.
Mr Donoghue shares this knowledge (without fee) to help his fellow legal professionals and others understand the law from the claimant lawyers’ perspective. By doing this, he hopes to advance the cause of claimants’ rights, and arm other compensation claims lawyers with the tools to help their own clients get justice.
Kevin is brilliant!… Stuck by me since the very start and got us the best result!
– Ryan Parker
Kevin Donoghue offers expert insight into policing matters throughout England and Wales – here he explained to the audience of BBC South Today why the public should be concerned with the roll out of the Taser 7 weapon to police forces in the area.
Academic Research
Kevin Donoghue is often called upon by academics conducting research. His many years of “hands-on” legal experience makes Mr Donoghue a valuable resource for research papers, books, and other publications.
For example, he helped Dr Abi Dymond with her forthcoming book: Electric-shock Weapons, TASERs and Policing: Myths and Realities.
Kevin…advised at all times of the process and what would be in our best interests -including refusing offers which were deemed insufficient…Thank you all @Donoghue solicitors
-Ricky Plant
How Kevin Donoghue became the Solicitor Director of his own firm
Kevin Donoghue’s journey to establishing Donoghue Solicitors began in Bootle, North Liverpool. Kevin is fiercely proud of his roots and still lives in the area. His dad is a local plasterer. His mum is a housekeeper. Both parents worked hard to improve their family’s lives. They taught Kevin the value of hard work, doing a proper job, reliability, and trust.
Instilled with these values, Kevin excelled at his local state school- Savio Salesian College. Kevin knew he wanted to work in the law but was not tempted by the traditional route of university. Instead he worked as a legal clerk in the litigation department of DPP-Law solicitors in Bootle. Within a year he took responsibility for his own clients. Kevin saw first-hand the positive effects of helping people with their compensation claims. It inspired him to work evenings and weekends to qualify as a Chartered Legal Executive in 2006. It was hard work but well worth it. Qualification gave Kevin control of his own varied litigation caseload.
But he wanted more. Kevin had ambitions to set up his own firm. He studied at the prestigious College of Law in Chester (now University of Law) and qualified as a solicitor in 2007. He started Donoghue Solicitors in 2010. The firm grew quickly and continues to thrive because everyone in it follows Kevin’s five founding principles, which you can read about here.
There are so many law firms out there today that promise to deliver a quality and professional service and while I can’t say there are some bad ones, as I am sure there are, I can definately recommend Donoghue Solicitors as an initial point of contact when considering taking action against the Police. I can speak from 1st hand experience that the firms Director, Kevin Donoghue, is bang on the money when it comes to taking on the Police.
-Stuart Wragg
About Donoghue Solicitors
Donoghue Solicitors is a long-established law firm which offers a personal, friendly, and expert compensation claims service to people throughout England and Wales. Kevin Donoghue leads a team of fearless advocates who fight for claimants’ rights. Read more about Donoghue Solicitors, including legal information about us, by clicking on the link.
Kevin was very personable and good at explaining complicated legal procedures in understandable terms.
-Bianca Brigden
Kevin Donoghue offers his expert opinion and assistance to the media, including BBC Newsnight.
How to Contact Kevin Donoghue Solicitor
Kevin Donoghue, solicitor, is a director of Donoghue Solicitors. You can contact him:
- by completing this short contact form
- call Kevin on 08000 124 246 (freephone) or 0151 236 1336
- write to Donoghue Solicitors, 25 Hatton Garden, Liverpool, L3 2FE.
Kevin is very friendly and loyal at providing the best possible service to his clients. I received A1 service…I will recommend him to anyone as a truly reliable person.
– Gary Wilson