Christopher Willman

Chris is a Principal Associate based within our Leeds office.

Chris has over 20 years experience in the legal industry. He has extensive litigation experience acting for large insurers, corporate clients as well as a large Government department (Ministry of Defence). His current practice involves acting for large insurers in relation to property damage claims which includes fire, escape of water, subsidence, as well as other perils within the subrogated recoveries area. Chris joined Weightmans in 2025.

He began his legal career at national firm Plexus Law, starting as a paralegal, where he quickly achieved full qualification, after successfully completing his training contract. In 2020 he joined Crawford Legal Services where he was the Subsidence Team Leader in their Commercial Litigation Department. Here he managed 9 team members, of varying levels, from junior paralegals to solicitors.  He also has extensive experience defending personal injury claims including, Casualty (Employers, Occupiers and Public Liability cases), Road Traffic Collisions (including credit hire claims) and Industrial Disease claims (primarily noise induced hearing loss and hand arm vibrations syndrome cases). 

His Industrial Disease practice saw him defending high value claims, often in excess of £1 million. He attended mediation where he was successful in obtaining the best outcome for clients with significant reductions in indemnity spend.  He takes a pragmatic but robust approach to obtain the best outcome for clients. 

Acted for the Ministry of Defence in various high value Industrial Disease cases where the claims were pleaded in excess of £1 million and settled for significantly less. This was due to a robust approach to the defence of the same and strong mediation skills resulting in significant reductions in indemnity spend for the client.