Margaret Bickford-Smith KC > Crown Office Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile

Margaret Bickford-Smith KC

020 7797 8100 bickfordsmith@crownofficechambers.com

Work Department

Dispute resolution (mediation); clinical negligence (claimant), personal injury (either side) and environment.

Position

Barrister and mediator. Margaret is current Chair of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London Branch. Her mediation experience includes commercial cases, and work in the fields of construction, property (boundaries, easements), commercial landlord & tenant, nuisance, personal injury and clinical negligence. As advocate she practised for many years as litigator in common law, commercial, chancery and arbitration work, latterly specialising in clinical negligence, industrial and mining personal injury claims, claims of psychiatric injury and stress, and in environmental and regulatory cases. Her clinical negligence practice became focused on high-value claims of profound handicap eg birth defect. She was formerly retained nationally (for deafness claims) by British Coal Corporation. Her industrial/mining experience gave her a good understanding of mechanical and technical issues, in particular for disaster work and subsidence claims. Her environmental experience has focused on pollution (oil, odour, fume, effluent, foundry work, etc), for both civil disputes and criminal prosecutions. Cases include AB v Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust (serious birth injury, quantum concl. 2012); YZ v Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust (serious birth injury, concl. 2011); Parkinson v St James etc Hospital Trust (clinical negligence, CA 2001); Hunter v BCC (CA: psychiatric injury); Longden v BCC (HL:damages: pension loss); Smoker v LFCDA (HL: damages: deductibility of pension benefits); Dudley MBC v G Clancey (environmental prosecution 2000-02); regulatory advisory/IPPC work thereafter.

Career

Called 1973, Inner Temple; QC 2003; Recorder since 1997; accredited mediator 2004; MCIArb 2006. Contributor, Powers & Harris 3rd & 4th editions (author, chapter 1: The Law); contributor, Jordans/ APIL Personal Injury Law, Practice & Precedents.

Memberships

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (current Chair, London Branch, since 2012); member, CIArb commercial mediation panel since 2007; Professional Negligence Bar Association (Member of Executive Committee); London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association; Bencher, Inner Temple since 1993; Chair Inns Conduct Committee (student disciplinary issues for all Inns of Court) 2012-2014.

Education

Headington School, Oxford; Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (MA).

Leisure

FRSA; Liveryman, Worshipful Company of Arbitrators (member, Education committee).