Alison Brooks > Barratts Solicitors > Nottingham, England > Lawyer Profile

Alison Brooks

0115 9315181 alison.brooks@barratts.legal

Work Department

Clinical negligence.

Position

Alison is a Law Society and AvMA Clinical Negligence Panel member. One of the 1st solicitors handling medical claims and recognised as a leader in this area.

I am privileged to have acted for clients in clinical negligence cases for over 30 years.  My expertise was recognised by the charity, Action Against Medical Accidents (“AvMA”) in December 2016.  I was proud to be awarded honorary membership of their specialist clinical negligence panel.  The award was given for my “work on behalf of injured patients and their families” and “longstanding contribution in the fields of clinical negligence and patient safety”.

Chambers and Legal 500, independent legal guides, regard me as a notable practitioner.  Quotes include “excellent client care skills” and “high standards”.  Sources also described me as a “hardworking and tenacious advocate” who is celebrated for her “good judgment and thorough approach to a case”.

I was one of the first members of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel.  I was one of the first to agree guaranteed annual payments by the NHS to a client with cerebral palsy.  My work has given me a unique insight into the lives of families living with disability and loss as a result of negligent medical care.  I am always amazed at their strength and determination to find answers.  My involvement at Inquests is another opportunity to highlight failings in patient safety and seek improvements.

Compensation sadly is not able to change clients’ disabilities or loss but my work can help prevent accidents happening to other patients.  I juggle the skills of a lawyer, social worker, counsellor and negotiator with a lay person’s forensic analysis of medical records.  Most importantly I am a listening ear for my clients who put their trust and faith in me. I cannot think of any other area of the law that is so rewarding.

Last but not least, for many years I have been involved with pro bono work for charities in London and Nottingham.  Most recently, I was invited to become Trustee of School for Parents, a Nottingham charity helping children with neurological conditions and Downs Syndrome. I was Secretary of Headway Northwest London and the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum and was Governor of a Scope school. I have been interviewed by the media and spoken at conferences both in the UK and Australia.

The challenge of securing compensation for clinical negligence clients means that every day is different. I am fortunate to also be a partner in a firm which prides itself on being run as a family style business, only employing a small specialist team of experienced senior lawyers.  I could not ask for a better team of lawyers and assistants who help to ensure that I achieve the very best for my clients.

Career

Trained Le Brasseurs (Medical Protection Society solicitors); qualified 1988; partner 2001; Le Brasseurs 1986; Stewarts Law 1989; Leigh Day & Co 1994; Kingsley Napley 1995; Barratt Goff & Tomlinson 2001 to date.

Memberships

APIL; AvMA.

Education

Bramcote Hills Grammar School; Reading University and Trent Law School (1984 Law degrees Hons 2(1)).

Leisure

Piano, theatre, music, gardening.