Meet our newest team member in bike and serious injury partnerships

Meet Minster Law’s new Solicitor and Senior Relationship Development Manager and bike claims expert – Matthew Bell – brought onboard to create new strategic partnerships.

Where were you working before coming to Minster Law?

I was the Managing Director of Sorry Mate Group Ltd, better known as sorrymate.com, a specialist bike solicitor.

You are a qualified solicitor, how did you find yourself working in personal injury?

It was during my training contract.

I trained with a small, family run commercial firm in Manchester city centre.
I actually started with commercial litigation and banking, however as part of my training contract I did a seat in the personal injury department – which given the size of the firm consisted of only two people.

It was clear that my 6-month seat would be painfully drawn out, as there was just enough work for the two current members of staff, so I went about building partnerships with external suppliers to basically give me enough work to do.

As my seat came to an end, I had become very close to one particular supplier, who effectively begged me to continue doing their work.

So, I continued taking on their work whilst doing my next seat.

How has it been joining the team at Minster?

I am probably one of only a few people to have changed roles during the pandemic, and it was weird to say the least.

I don’t think I will ever forget my first day when I was shown around by one of the team in facilities.

As we were about to go through one of the double doors she told me, ‘this is the largest team at Minster’.

She opened the door and there was one woman sat on her own surrounded by a huge number of empty desks.

I have been here 2-months now, and still not physically met most people, with everything being undertaken on Microsoft Teams.

What is your new role? 

I have been brought into a role that is two-fold.

The first is to help the partnerships team in terms of their two-wheel broker relations, i.e motorcycles, drawing upon my experience with SorryMate.

The second is in relation to strategic partnerships away from the broker market, such as those in the healthcare and charity spheres.

Part of your role is working with charity groups, what type of work do you do with them? 

It is working with them to see how we can help their clients whilst also supporting them in terms of their charitable aim.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I have a wife, three kids, two dogs, a hamster, and several fish, so they generally keep me busy.

If I get any me time, I get out on my bike and see where I get.

What is your experience with biking?

I’ve ridden bikes since I was a kid, although only relatively recently, in my early 30s, did I start riding on the roads.

When I was younger, I was involved in the racing scene, both two wheels and four.

As well as racing at a high level at karting, I also dabbled in rally, Formula Ford and Motocross.

Do you have any fun party tricks or facts about you we can share?

Unbelievably, I am a trained clown!

It’s from when I was a teenager when I used to work with children doing clown workshops.

Other than that, my sporting injuries are probably something to behold.

Throughout my life, as a result of racing and rugby, I have broken a lot of bones including an eye socket, my nose, my two front teeth, my arm, plenty of ribs, my ankle and leg, toes, foot and back.