Byrom Street Chambers is ‘an excellent set‘ with a ‘very experienced clinical negligence team.’ Winston Hunter KC heads a Silk-heavy chambers which is also home to Christopher Melton KC, who has a thriving practice in cases involving catastrophic and serious injury, disease and death, and James Rowley KC, who has substantial experience acting in high value catastrophic birth injury cases. David Heaton KC acts for both claimants and defendants in catastrophic brain and spinal injury cases and Mary Ruck is also noted and focuses on clinical negligence cases involving serious personal injury and fatal injury. Claimant clinical negligence expert Stephen McNamara joined the set from Kings Chambers in June 2021.
Clinical negligence in
Regional BarByrom Street Chambers
Testimonials
Set
‘Very high quality set for this kind of catastrophic injury work, with great strength in depth. Clearly the best in the North.’
‘They have a very experienced clinical negligence team. The training arranged by chambers has been great and I have recommended it to colleagues.’
‘Byrom Street has counsel with great expertise and there is generally a number of counsel who could assist and have good availability.’
‘Byrom Street Chambers is an excellent set with a broad range of counsel of high ability and fantastic clerking.’
‘Byrom Street has huge strength in depth for clinical negligence work, particularly at KC level, and is unrivalled in this field in Manchester. They offer training to solicitors through their annual day long training event coupled with regular shorter training sessions across the year. Their strength in depth means there is generally always suitable Counsel available.’
Clerking
‘ The clerks are very helpful indeed and great at suggesting others in chambers who may be able to assist if the particular barrister you want to instruct is not available. They always deal with matters promptly.’
‘Always helpful and stand out in this respect. Matt Tudor and Steve Price always get things done for me with minimum fuss and make me feel as if my clients come first.’
‘The clerking service provided by Byrom Street is fantastic. They always do their best to accommodate needs and are a very friendly team. Lucy Bardsley in particular provides a very good service.’
‘The clerks are the best clerks in the North West, in my opinion, and are very approachable and helpful.’
‘Very experienced clerks room led by Steve Price, who is willing to assist and help on a range of matters.’
Exchange Chambers
Exchange Chambers has a thriving clinical negligence department. Gerard Martin KC, Matthew Stockwell and Chris Gutteridge all specialise in brain and spinal injury cases, as well as claims for amputees, whilst David Knifton KC‘s practice focuses on high value obstetric injuries, failures or delays in diagnosis and consent issues on behalf of claimants. Knifton KC and Gutteridge represented the claimant in a case after a woman with a back injury underwent surgery, during which her blood pressure was allowed to drop and she suffered a spinal stroke. Bill Braithwaite KC and Kevin Naylor are also key names in this area, and Christopher Barnes KC was appointed Silk in the 2022 round.
Testimonials
Set
‘One of the leading personal injury and clinical negligence sets, not only on the Northern Circuit, but nationally, with a fantastic team of silks and juniors.’
‘Exchange chambers are a well-established, leading chambers that rivals any other in the North West. They are a leading chambers for Claimant clinical negligence and personal injury and have extensive strength in depth with great Barristers, senior management and clerks. Exchange chambers is an excellent set of chambers with a very good clerking service.’
‘Exchange Chambers are an outstanding set of Chambers. They are always able to deliver a fantastic service. During lockdown, Chambers provided a superb virtual training programme for personal injury claims, as well as clinical negligence claims which proved to be hugely beneficial and invaluable.’
Exchange offer a strong team of clinical negligence barristers across all levels and often provides additional support to our firm by way of bespoke training. Both clerks and counsel are very accommodating and supportive.’
‘Exchange Chambers has strength in depth and number of counsel. They always have counsel available for hearings and interlocutory applications. I have attended a number of their training days which are always interesting and educational.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are fantastic at accommodating their clients, always going the extra mile. Rachel Williams is superb. Josh Finn is great. They are responsive, prompt, efficient and helpful. A real joy to communicate with. Will set up meetings at a moments notice and nothing is too much for them.’
‘All clerks at Exchange are helpful. Whilst I often deal with Josh Finn, I have only ever experienced a proactive and supportive response across all of the clerking team.’
‘All clerks in Exchange Chambers are very good, but Rachel Williams is someone that I find particularly great to deal with. She is exceptionally good at her job and is a pleasure to work with – an essential part of the team.’
All of the clerks are extremely helpful and knowledgeable but Sarah Rotherham in particular goes the extra mile to assist.’
‘Always helpful and deal with matters quickly.’
Kings Chambers
Kings Chambers is praised for its ‘strong clinical negligence practice’ for which is has ‘an excellent reputation’. Its members advise across a range of cases, including catastrophic birth injury, delays in cancer diagnosis, and dental negligence. Nicholas Braslavsky KC has a well-established presence in the field of clinical negligence and handles high-value traumatic injury claims for both claimants and defendants. Sarah Pritchard KC’s practice covers all aspects of medical claims, but has particular expertise in birth damage claims, cauda equina cases and surgical negligence. Helen Mulholland also has a strong practice, handling cases involving neurological and neurosurgical injury.
Testimonials
Set
‘There is a good choice of junior, senior and senior-junior barristers that are able to advise on any clinical negligence case. They are always responsive and organised and that is precisely what you need from a chambers.’
‘Chambers has one of very few regional defendant clinical negligence offerings and is highly skilled in personal injury and clinical negligence.
‘Kings Chambers has a good mix of silks, senior juniors with a long track record, and a new batch of juniors who have access to that same wealth of experience.’
‘Kings has a strong clinical negligence practice and an excellent reputation in this area.’
‘Strong across all levels of call. House style is approachable and responsive. Strongly client focused.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are efficient and Leanne Martin demonstrates good management of Counsel’s diary and instructions.’
‘All of the clerks are friendly and flexible. Their response time is excellent. Paul Clarke is very approachable and helpful.’
‘The clerks are very organised and very quick to respond to requests. Paul Clarke is particularly good – nothing is too much trouble.’
‘Louise Barnes and Stephen Loxton especially stand out. All of the clerks provide an excellent service.’
‘Clerks work hard to provide a friendly and efficient service.’
St John's Buildings
The members at St John’s Buildings have broad ranging expertise including, amongst others, handling cases involving cerebral palsy, birth injury, pregnancy and gynaecology, and cancer mistreatment claims. Henry Vanderpump works almost exclusively for claimants in complex surgical procedure claims, as well as delayed cancer diagnosis cases. He represented the claimant in Higson v Bolton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust regarding the hospital prescribing the patient opiate medication, which she had a sensitivity to, leading to her death. Philip Grundy specialises in consent and delayed diagnosis cases and Richard Norton has strengths in surgical negligence and post-operative care cases. Alastair Wright is also recommended, and John Ratledge rejoined the set in January 2021 from East Anglian Chambers.
Testimonials
Set
‘The barristers at St John’s Buildings can always be relied upon to provide firm and clear advice. They offer a variety of online training sessions which are up to date and on topic.’
‘One of the largest chambers in the Northwest with a wide range of specialists in many areas of legal work.’
‘This is a first class chambers, with a wide offering. Very well led and very well clerked.’
‘Counsel are readily available, helpful, friendly, professional and knowledgeable.’
‘A very good set to work with.’
Clerking
‘Very good.’
‘The clerks at St John’s Buildings are always helpful and prompt in their responses. Martin provides an excellent service.’
‘Responsive and well organised.’
‘The clerks are accessible, commercial and willing to do what it takes to ensure instructions and briefs are actioned in a timely fashion. They know how their instructing firms operate and they adapt accordingly. Highly recommended.’
‘The clerks are extremely efficient.’
18 St John Street Chambers
18 St John Street Chambers’ clinical negligence department covers a broad range of cases from cerebral palsy matters to dental claims, as well as spinal, orthopaedic, gynaecological, wrongful birth and claims relating to vascular surgery. Gemma McGungle has a thriving practice predominantly acting for claimants and Christopher Limb is also a key name in the clinical negligence space.
Testimonials
Set
‘The counsel in this set are efficient capable and experts in their field.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are always polite and efficient.’
9 St John Street
9 St John Street’s members provide broad ranging support to clients who have received negligent medical, dental and cosmetic treatment. Kirsty McKinlay is head of the clinical negligence team and acted for the claimant in Newport v Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which concerned a surgeon’s failure to excise the claimant’s breast cancer, causing her to require two additional surgeries. Joseph Paul Mulderig is mainly instructed by claimants, but also represents defendants in the private medical sector. Julie-Anne Luck is also a key name of note in this space.
Testimonials
Set
‘Chambers is excellent – they provide very good training courses and all Counsel there are very good.’
‘Chambers has a solid offering in relation to Clinical Negligence and Coronial Law. There is always a barrister available when you need one and, once instructed, they are on hand throughout the case if needed.’
Clerking
‘Very helpful and accommodating clerks.’
‘The clerks are always knowledgeable, helpful and quick to respond to any requests.’
‘Helpful, with swift responses and good counsel recommendations.’
‘The clerks always accommodate late hearings or conferences. They never fail to deliver.’
Atlantic Chambers
The members at Atlantic Chambers handle a wide range of clinical negligence cases, including delayed diagnosis and orthopaedic, oncology and gynaecological matters, as well as and midwifery and neonatal issues. Elizabeth Francis is very active in this space alongside John Benson KC who is also notable for his extensive experience in high-value, complex clinical negligence cases.
Testimonials
Set
‘Atlantic Chambers have a number of very good clinical negligence barristers.’
‘Atlantic Chambers has a wide variety of barristers. They hold annual legal update meetings, which are free of charge and invariably excellent.’
Clerking
‘The backroom clerks are very good and in particular the the head clerk Lee Cadwallader.’
‘Quick to respond to diary queries.’
‘The clerks are universally helpful and will do their utmost to accommodate any request we may have. Lee Cadwallader is a gem.’
Deans Court Chambers
Deans Court Chambers‘ Victoria Heyworth represents both claimants and defendants, and particularly excels in representing GP practices, nurses, care homes, surgeons, dentists and optometrists. Michael Smith predominantly represents defendants in complex causation cases, including cauda equina, amputations and delayed diagnoses of cancer and other conditions.
Testimonials
Set
‘Deans Court have a number of Counsel who specialise in clinical negligence matters.’
‘Deans Court Chambers is an excellent chambers for clinical negligence.’
Clerking
‘Clerks are very helpful and approachable, especially Pete Conwell.’
‘The clerks at Deans Court Chambers are very good, always respond quickly and assist in terms of finding time for Counsel to deal with instructions.’
Byrom Street Chambers
Testimonials
Set
‘Very high quality set for this kind of catastrophic injury work, with great strength in depth. Clearly the best in the North.’
‘They have a very experienced clinical negligence team. The training arranged by chambers has been great and I have recommended it to colleagues.’
‘Byrom Street has counsel with great expertise and there is generally a number of counsel who could assist and have good availability.’
‘Byrom Street Chambers is an excellent set with a broad range of counsel of high ability and fantastic clerking.’
‘Byrom Street has huge strength in depth for clinical negligence work, particularly at KC level, and is unrivalled in this field in Manchester. They offer training to solicitors through their annual day long training event coupled with regular shorter training sessions across the year. Their strength in depth means there is generally always suitable Counsel available.’
Clerking
‘ The clerks are very helpful indeed and great at suggesting others in chambers who may be able to assist if the particular barrister you want to instruct is not available. They always deal with matters promptly.’
‘Always helpful and stand out in this respect. Matt Tudor and Steve Price always get things done for me with minimum fuss and make me feel as if my clients come first.’
‘The clerking service provided by Byrom Street is fantastic. They always do their best to accommodate needs and are a very friendly team. Lucy Bardsley in particular provides a very good service.’
‘The clerks are the best clerks in the North West, in my opinion, and are very approachable and helpful.’
‘Very experienced clerks room led by Steve Price, who is willing to assist and help on a range of matters.’
Exchange Chambers
Exchange Chambers has a thriving clinical negligence department. Gerard Martin KC, Matthew Stockwell and Chris Gutteridge all specialise in brain and spinal injury cases, as well as claims for amputees, whilst David Knifton KC‘s practice focuses on high value obstetric injuries, failures or delays in diagnosis and consent issues on behalf of claimants. Knifton KC and Gutteridge represented the claimant in a case after a woman with a back injury underwent surgery, during which her blood pressure was allowed to drop and she suffered a spinal stroke. Bill Braithwaite KC and Kevin Naylor are also key names in this area, and Christopher Barnes KC was appointed Silk in the 2022 round.
Testimonials
Set
‘One of the leading personal injury and clinical negligence sets, not only on the Northern Circuit, but nationally, with a fantastic team of silks and juniors.’
‘Exchange chambers are a well-established, leading chambers that rivals any other in the North West. They are a leading chambers for Claimant clinical negligence and personal injury and have extensive strength in depth with great Barristers, senior management and clerks. Exchange chambers is an excellent set of chambers with a very good clerking service.’
‘Exchange Chambers are an outstanding set of Chambers. They are always able to deliver a fantastic service. During lockdown, Chambers provided a superb virtual training programme for personal injury claims, as well as clinical negligence claims which proved to be hugely beneficial and invaluable.’
Exchange offer a strong team of clinical negligence barristers across all levels and often provides additional support to our firm by way of bespoke training. Both clerks and counsel are very accommodating and supportive.’
‘Exchange Chambers has strength in depth and number of counsel. They always have counsel available for hearings and interlocutory applications. I have attended a number of their training days which are always interesting and educational.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are fantastic at accommodating their clients, always going the extra mile. Rachel Williams is superb. Josh Finn is great. They are responsive, prompt, efficient and helpful. A real joy to communicate with. Will set up meetings at a moments notice and nothing is too much for them.’
‘All clerks at Exchange are helpful. Whilst I often deal with Josh Finn, I have only ever experienced a proactive and supportive response across all of the clerking team.’
‘All clerks in Exchange Chambers are very good, but Rachel Williams is someone that I find particularly great to deal with. She is exceptionally good at her job and is a pleasure to work with – an essential part of the team.’
All of the clerks are extremely helpful and knowledgeable but Sarah Rotherham in particular goes the extra mile to assist.’
‘Always helpful and deal with matters quickly.’
Kings Chambers
Kings Chambers is praised for its ‘strong clinical negligence practice’ for which is has ‘an excellent reputation’. Its members advise across a range of cases, including catastrophic birth injury, delays in cancer diagnosis, and dental negligence. Nicholas Braslavsky KC has a well-established presence in the field of clinical negligence and handles high-value traumatic injury claims for both claimants and defendants. Sarah Pritchard KC’s practice covers all aspects of medical claims, but has particular expertise in birth damage claims, cauda equina cases and surgical negligence. Helen Mulholland also has a strong practice, handling cases involving neurological and neurosurgical injury.
Testimonials
Set
‘There is a good choice of junior, senior and senior-junior barristers that are able to advise on any clinical negligence case. They are always responsive and organised and that is precisely what you need from a chambers.’
‘Chambers has one of very few regional defendant clinical negligence offerings and is highly skilled in personal injury and clinical negligence.
‘Kings Chambers has a good mix of silks, senior juniors with a long track record, and a new batch of juniors who have access to that same wealth of experience.’
‘Kings has a strong clinical negligence practice and an excellent reputation in this area.’
‘Strong across all levels of call. House style is approachable and responsive. Strongly client focused.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are efficient and Leanne Martin demonstrates good management of Counsel’s diary and instructions.’
‘All of the clerks are friendly and flexible. Their response time is excellent. Paul Clarke is very approachable and helpful.’
‘The clerks are very organised and very quick to respond to requests. Paul Clarke is particularly good – nothing is too much trouble.’
‘Louise Barnes and Stephen Loxton especially stand out. All of the clerks provide an excellent service.’
‘Clerks work hard to provide a friendly and efficient service.’
St John's Buildings
The members at St John’s Buildings have broad ranging expertise including, amongst others, handling cases involving cerebral palsy, birth injury, pregnancy and gynaecology, and cancer mistreatment claims. Henry Vanderpump works almost exclusively for claimants in complex surgical procedure claims, as well as delayed cancer diagnosis cases. He represented the claimant in Higson v Bolton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust regarding the hospital prescribing the patient opiate medication, which she had a sensitivity to, leading to her death. Philip Grundy specialises in consent and delayed diagnosis cases and Richard Norton has strengths in surgical negligence and post-operative care cases. Alastair Wright is also recommended, and John Ratledge rejoined the set in January 2021 from East Anglian Chambers.
Testimonials
Set
‘The barristers at St John’s Buildings can always be relied upon to provide firm and clear advice. They offer a variety of online training sessions which are up to date and on topic.’
‘One of the largest chambers in the Northwest with a wide range of specialists in many areas of legal work.’
‘This is a first class chambers, with a wide offering. Very well led and very well clerked.’
‘Counsel are readily available, helpful, friendly, professional and knowledgeable.’
‘A very good set to work with.’
Clerking
‘Very good.’
‘The clerks at St John’s Buildings are always helpful and prompt in their responses. Martin provides an excellent service.’
‘Responsive and well organised.’
‘The clerks are accessible, commercial and willing to do what it takes to ensure instructions and briefs are actioned in a timely fashion. They know how their instructing firms operate and they adapt accordingly. Highly recommended.’
‘The clerks are extremely efficient.’
18 St John Street Chambers
18 St John Street Chambers’ clinical negligence department covers a broad range of cases from cerebral palsy matters to dental claims, as well as spinal, orthopaedic, gynaecological, wrongful birth and claims relating to vascular surgery. Gemma McGungle has a thriving practice predominantly acting for claimants and Christopher Limb is also a key name in the clinical negligence space.
Testimonials
Set
‘The counsel in this set are efficient capable and experts in their field.’
Clerking
‘The clerks are always polite and efficient.’
9 St John Street
9 St John Street’s members provide broad ranging support to clients who have received negligent medical, dental and cosmetic treatment. Kirsty McKinlay is head of the clinical negligence team and acted for the claimant in Newport v Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which concerned a surgeon’s failure to excise the claimant’s breast cancer, causing her to require two additional surgeries. Joseph Paul Mulderig is mainly instructed by claimants, but also represents defendants in the private medical sector. Julie-Anne Luck is also a key name of note in this space.
Testimonials
Set
‘Chambers is excellent – they provide very good training courses and all Counsel there are very good.’
‘Chambers has a solid offering in relation to Clinical Negligence and Coronial Law. There is always a barrister available when you need one and, once instructed, they are on hand throughout the case if needed.’
Clerking
‘Very helpful and accommodating clerks.’
‘The clerks are always knowledgeable, helpful and quick to respond to any requests.’
‘Helpful, with swift responses and good counsel recommendations.’
‘The clerks always accommodate late hearings or conferences. They never fail to deliver.’
Atlantic Chambers
The members at Atlantic Chambers handle a wide range of clinical negligence cases, including delayed diagnosis and orthopaedic, oncology and gynaecological matters, as well as and midwifery and neonatal issues. Elizabeth Francis is very active in this space alongside John Benson KC who is also notable for his extensive experience in high-value, complex clinical negligence cases.
Testimonials
Set
‘Atlantic Chambers have a number of very good clinical negligence barristers.’
‘Atlantic Chambers has a wide variety of barristers. They hold annual legal update meetings, which are free of charge and invariably excellent.’
Clerking
‘The backroom clerks are very good and in particular the the head clerk Lee Cadwallader.’
‘Quick to respond to diary queries.’
‘The clerks are universally helpful and will do their utmost to accommodate any request we may have. Lee Cadwallader is a gem.’
Deans Court Chambers
Deans Court Chambers‘ Victoria Heyworth represents both claimants and defendants, and particularly excels in representing GP practices, nurses, care homes, surgeons, dentists and optometrists. Michael Smith predominantly represents defendants in complex causation cases, including cauda equina, amputations and delayed diagnoses of cancer and other conditions.
Testimonials
Set
‘Deans Court have a number of Counsel who specialise in clinical negligence matters.’
‘Deans Court Chambers is an excellent chambers for clinical negligence.’
Clerking
‘Clerks are very helpful and approachable, especially Pete Conwell.’
‘The clerks at Deans Court Chambers are very good, always respond quickly and assist in terms of finding time for Counsel to deal with instructions.’