The Legal 500

Position

Barrister specialising in personal injury for both claimant and defendant (including industrial disease and multiparty litigation) clinical negligence, professional negligence, sports law and mediation. Cases include: Cain v Francis [2008] EWCA Civ 1451 – Court of Appeal revisited the principles on which courts should exercise their discretion under s33 of the Limitation Act; Sarwar v Ali [2007] EWHC 1255 (QB), Lloyd Jones J – claimant’s preference for a lump sum, periodical payments ordered for care and earnings linked to indices other than RPI; Taylor v Chesworth [2007] EWHC 1001 (QB), Ramsey J -claimant’s preference for a lump sum, periodical payments ordered; Shelton v Jones [November 2005], instructed in what was then thought to be the largest ever personal injury settlement at £15m; Thacker v Steeples and MIB [16 May 2005] Cox J – whether the MIB is a reasonably secure provider under the then new periodical payments regime; Mastermann-Lister v Jewell [2003] 1 WLR 1511 (claimant attempting in 2002 to set aside settlement in 1987 of his original action on the grounds that he was then a ‘patient’ – definition of ‘incapacity’); Scutts v Met Police Commissioner [2001] EWCA Civ 1723 (duty of care owed by a police officer driving to an emergency); Smith v White Knight Laundry [2002] 1 WLR 616 (limitation – restoration of company – whether cause of action against dissolved company accrues only on order restoring company to the register); Van Oudenhoven v Griffin Inns [2000] 1 WLR 1413 (multipliers – what is a very exceptional case – Hodgson v Trapp); O’Mahony v Joliffe [1999] PIQR P149 (liability of MIB – when is a passenger using a vehicle); Cassin v London Borough of Bexley, CA February 1999 (liability of Highway Authority for removal of traffic signs on police instructions prior to a demonstration); Armstrong v British Coal, CA July 1998 (test cases of VWF in the coal industry); Wells v Wells [1999] I AC 345 (HL decision on multipliers); Sellen v Bailey, CA January 1998 (insurers estopped from contesting a second action); North East Shipyard litigation (label given to a batch of test cases to determine the respective liabilities of shipyard employers on the one hand, and of the manufacturers/sprayers of asbestos on the other hand for asbestos-related diseases among workers in the North East shipyards; instructed on behalf of Turner and Newalls – third party manufacturer/sprayer – achieved settlement on the day of trial, November 1997); Gahan v Szerelmey [1996] 1 WLR 439 (dismissal for want of prosecution); Ping v Letraset (1992) PIQR P74 (number of plaintiffs claiming work-related upper limb disorders); Matthews v Waltham Forrest Health Authority, Pill J January 1991 (causation of cerebral palsy); Pitts v Hunt [1991] 1 QB 24 (ex turpi/duty of care).

Career

Called 1972; Silk 1997; arbitrator under MIB Untraced Drivers Agreement 2001 to date; Recorder 2002 to date; accredited and experienced in mediation both as an advocate and as a mediator.

Member

Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar Council 1992-98; committee member PIBA; PNBA; Ogden Committee 2004 to date.

Practice Areas

Clinical negligence - either side; Personal injury - either side; Professional negligence