Ann Houghton

My role

I am proud to work at a social purpose law firm where I can make a difference to my clients’ lives after they have been injured in accidents or suffered harm after sub-standard care. I specialise in personal injury and clinical negligence work, with a proven track record of success in legally complex claims and catastrophic injury, often securing large sums of compensation for the most seriously injured clients.

I have a wide range of experience. For personal injury, this includes cases arising from road traffic collisions, injury at work, and incidents in public places (such as parks and hotels). For clinical negligence, this includes cases arising from sub-standard care by GPs, hospitals, midwives, NHS Direct, walk-in centres, ambulance services and private medical care. My clients face the life-changing impact of negligent surgery; delays treating sepsis; failures in care during labour; birth injuries; delayed cancer diagnosis; delays causing sight loss; inappropriate use of Sodium Valproate in pregnancy; and failure to provide basic nutrition in hospital, amongst many other issues.

I am nationally recognised as a specialist in my field in the legal directories, Legal 500 and Chambers. Legal 500 rated me as a ‘next generation lawyer’ in 2017 and 2018, and a ‘Rising Star’ for the last two years. Chambers named me as ‘Associate to Watch’ in 2022. Directory quotes include “forward-thinking and empathetic”, “continues to impress” and “solicitors of outstanding ability – the best of the best” alongside Rankeshwar Batta.

I am proud of the feedback I receive from my clients, some of which is below. This includes “I cannot speak highly enough of Ann Houghton… She was excellent at keeping me informed, whilst at the same time protecting me from much of the stresses and complexities involved.” Also “Ann was warm, forensic and utterly professional in her approach and e were so glad that she took on the case after another firm couldn’t help. From the outset Ann quickly grasped the injustice that we felt had happened and fought hard to get the hospital to recognise their mistakes. We can’t thank her enough, she has made a real difference.”

My experience

I have won cutting edge cases which have helped to shape the law, for example, a case regarding parental responsibility (I represented the mother who was exonerated), and a case for a nurse who suffered psychological injury when she was effectively blamed by the NHS for the death of a young child in her care. My work

I work with incredible charities who support my clients, including the UK Sepsis Trust, Cerebral Palsy Midlands, the Epilepsy Society, National Institute for Conductive Education (NICE) and Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT). I am a trusted adviser and many of my clients are referred to me by these charities.

I enjoy running and have done half marathons to raise money for charity and held bake sales – running and baking are two of my favourite hobbies and balance each other out quite well!

I love to be involved developing and supporting my colleagues, including being part of the firm’s Coaching Bank, a supervisor and appraiser for our trainee solicitors and a mentor.

Testimonials

‘Ann has the perfect balance between being a fierce litigator and sensitively handling clients.’ – Chambers and Partners, 2023

‘Ann and Rankey were amazing from beginning to end. Ann was so understanding and had so much empathy for everything we had to go through. Thanks so much!!’ – Anonymous 

‘Both myself and my father would like to express our gratitude for your lead in getting to this conclusion. You have been very professional throughout and very knowledgeable, but most importantly, your communication with us throughout has been second to none for which we are truly grateful.’ – Mr Ali’s son

‘Once I was made aware of the medical negligence back in 2016, I tried to find a solicitor who would take on my case. As it was over 25 years ago I wasn’t very hopeful. Then I was put in contact with Anthony Collins solicitors. They agreed to take on my case and knowing how hard and complex the case was. I personally can’t thank everyone who worked on my case at Anthony Collins enough. I would definitely recommend Anthony Collins listers to my friends and family.’ – Natalie wood

‘I am so grateful to Ann Houghton and all her staff at ACS. Ann has been so caring and thoughtful throughout this process, it has been obvious that she had a genuine concern. I was so impressed by her determination to succeed in winning this case. Thank you ACS for everything.’ – Anonymous 

‘She is forward-thinking and empathetic.’ – Chambers and Partners, 2022

‘Ann was warm, forensic and utterly professional in her approach and we were so glad that she took on the case after another firm couldn’t help. From the outset Ann quickly grasped the injustice that we felt had happened and fought hard to get the hospital to recognise their mistakes. We can’t thank her enough, she has made a real difference.’ – Anonymous