Clinical negligence: claimant

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Susan Brown
Hall of fameBoyes Turner
Susan leads the Clinical Negligence team at Boyes Turner and has specialised in complex and high value clinical negligence work for over 25 years. She has a specialist expertise in child brain injury arising from birth asphyxia and trauma, neonatal negligence, including Kernicterus, hypoglycaemia and infection related brain injury. Susan uses liability judgments and interim payments to provide early respite and life-changing resources for the client. She ensures that her clients’ true needs are reflected in settlements which balance capital costs with long-term security in terms of annual payments.
Denise Stephens
Hall of fameShoosmiths LLP
Denise Stephens is a partner working in the Medical Negligence Department. Denise is one of the country's leading medical negligence specialist solicitors. She heads a team in Reading and, although based in Reading, she travels extensively throughout England and Wales representing her catastrophically injured clients. Denise has 22 years of expertise in handling numerous claims for patients across a wide medical spectrum. Denise is passionate about fighting for the rights of injured patients, she is focused, approachable and sympathetic. Denise gets to the centre of an issue quickly and with expertise. The Legal 500 describe her as: 'First rate ... handles extremely heavy cases with a certainty of touch and capability.' Chambers describes her as: 'Charismatic and forceful with a wealth of experience in the field.'  Sources admire her 'client centred approach' and describe her as 'top-notch'. Denise is renowned for her work involving babies injured at birth but also has vast experience across a wide and diverse range of medical cases. Work highlights Denise has dealt with many highly complex cases involving multi-million pound claims in the High Court. Highest ever court award for medical negligence Denise achieved the highest ever court award for medical negligence. She secured the sum of £14.6 million in an 11 day trial in the case of Robshaw v United Lincolnshire Hospitals [2015] EWHC 923 (QB); MED LR 339, James Robshaw had suffered cerebral palsy at birth. This case is a landmark judgment in quantum. Cerebral Palsy testimonial Milly Evans acquired a brain injury at birth resulting in cerebral palsy and Denise recovered £10.8 million by way of damages. Andy Evans said: 'You need to have a legal team who are caring, who you absolutely trust and who will tell you the truth.  Certainly from our point of view Denise Stephens from Access Legal has been absolutely amazing.' Deputy by the Court of Protection In addition to her litigation work Denise is also appointed as a Deputy by the Court of Protection to look after the financial interests of protected parties. Law Society accreditation and member of their specialist panel Denise is accredited by the Law Society as a specialist in Medical Negligence and has been on their specialist panel for many years. APIL Senior Litigator Denise has also obtained Senior Litigation status with Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
Fiona Follis
Hall of fameThomson Snell & Passmore
Partner & Head of Department
Gillian Gadsby
Hall of fameGadsby Wicks Solicitors
Managing Partner & Solicitor
Tracy Norris-Evans
Hall of fameRWK Goodman
Tracy is a partner specialising in complex personal injury and medical negligence cases of maximum severity, especially paediatric claims. She is so interested in medicine that she has been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.Tracy understands the damaging effect of injury on the entire family and she appreciates the importance of achieving the right level of compensation, as well as making sure it lasts her clients for their lifetime. She has specialised in personal injury and clinical negligence catastrophic claims since 1989 and has successfully recovered damages in excess of £50,000,000 for her clients. Tracy heads the firm’s personal injury team and her specialisms include: Injury claims to children through birth injury or accident Head injury cases stroke as a consequence of physiotherapy acting as a Professional Trustee or Deputy for clients. Her high profile cases are regularly reported in legal publications including Lawtel, MedNeg, APIL and Healthcare Risk.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Alison Appelboam-Meadows
Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP
Alison is a partner in the PI and clinical negligence team, which handles a range of personal injury and clinical negligence cases. She has over 30 years’ experience in the field, with particular expertise in clinical negligence cases involving obstetric negligence. She has handled many cases on behalf of children with cerebral palsy as a result of ante-/peri-/post-natal events, running the cases to trial, if necessary, to achieve the best outcome for her clients, eg Zhang v Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Massey v Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust. She also acts on behalf of adults who have sustained brain damage as a result of meningitis or hypoxia, eg Napoli v Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust, and those who have suffered significant spinal cord injuries.
Jason Brady
Holmes & Hills
Jason Brady is Partner and Head of the firm’s Clinical Negligence and Serious Injury department. As Head of the department, Jason’s caseload consists of the firms most high value and complex cases, often involving serious life-shortening or life-limiting injuries and illnesses. In particular, Jason specialises in cases relating to complex birth injuries -both those arising to mother and/or baby, where the impact on individuals and their families is profound. Jason also handles cases relating to head and brain injuries, in instances where the individual may have limited capacity with a Litigation Friend acting on behalf of the claimant. Additionally, Jason’s caseload includes amputation claims, often in instances whereby the individual is no longer able to work, or where there are multiple complexities surrounding the claim. Jason has built strong relationships in order to create a national network of medical experts and counsel to support each case as appropriate.
Carolyn Lowe
Freeths LLP
Carolyn has 23 years’ experience of bringing clinical negligence claims. She deals with all types of medical cases, but particularly specialises in representing bereaved parents in cases which involve stillbirths and neonatal deaths. She also represents children who are brain damaged as a result of negligent care during their birth. Other areas of speciality are in relation to complex orthopaedic claims and cardiac claims. Carolyn has represented numerous families of patients who have died as a result of clinical negligence. She also advises them in relation to Inquests and Coronial law. Recent settlements: (1) £8.5m for a 29 year old man who suffered severe brain damage at birth due to negligent medical care at Luton /7 Dunstable Hospital. He has cerebral palsy and requires 24 hour care. (2) Represented a woman who suffered severe damage to her shoulder as a result of a failure to diagnose and properly treat a bone infection at Milton Keynes Hospital. A settlement of £200,000 was achieved. 3) Achieved a £750,000 settlement for a man whose claim related to negligent knee surgery. This left him with severe, permanent pain and being likely to require an amputation. (4) Settlement of £500,000 for a man who has suffered permanent damage to his heart after his GP failed to deal adequately with symptoms of endocarditis, a severe infection of the heart. (5) Settlement of £480,000 for a man and his young children who lost their wife and mother as a result of negligent care by her General Practitioner
Richard Money-Kyrle
Boyes Turner
Richard is a partner in Boyes Turner’s outstanding medical negligence team. Richard is deeply committed to making a difference to the lives of severely injured patients and their families. He represents clients who have been brain damaged resulting in cerebral palsy, tetraplegia and PVS, and disabled by spinal injuries, cauda equina and amputation. Richard’s gentle and compassionate manner with clients is combined with intellectually rigorous use of the legal process to secure early admissions of liability, substantial interim payments and maximum compensation to provide his clients with rehabilitation, housing, education and care.
Susan Prior
Shoosmiths LLP
Sue is a Clinical Negligence Partner and leads a team in the Clinical Negligence department in the Thames Valley Office. Sue joined Shoosmiths in November 2009 as a Senior Solicitor in the Serious Injuries Unit and moved into the Clinical Negligence Department in July 2012, bringing with her a wealth of litigation experience. She acts for and supports clients with a diverse range of claims across clinical negligence, including brain injury and spinal cases, birth injury cases, cases arising from sub-standard surgery, failure to diagnose/treat cancer, sepsis and fatalities. Sue strives to provide the highest level of support, legal advice and compensation for her clients. She appreciates the need to deal with matters both efficiently and compassionately for clients who are struggling to come to terms with the effect their injuries, or the injuries that their loved ones have suffered, have had on their lives.  She is highly regarded by her clients, who describer her as caring, patient and understanding, She is known for her ability to listen carefully and provide reassurance throughout the legal process. Sue holds Senior Litigator status with the Association of Personal Injury Solicitors (APIL) and is ranked as a Leading Individual in the Legal 500. What clients say: It is difficult to describe how thankful we are for all of your hard work and support throughout these past few years. In fact, no email will be able to accurately show the true extent of our gratitude for your effort. Nonetheless, my mum and I would like to let you know it means the world to us … with the result being unquestionably success. I cannot thank Susan Prior and her team enough for all their care, patience and understanding taking my claim forward and bringing this to closure.  Sue was always there to answer any questions and explaining every step of the way which was very reassuring to me.  Sue listened carefully to everything about my husband and getting to know who he was and the kind of person he was.  Which not only to me but also my family showed how caring and professional Susan is.
Maya Sushila
Moore Barlow
Maya is a partner in the firm’s medical negligence team, helping clients with complex claims resulting from substandard healthcare and medical practices. As a medical negligence specialist, her clients are those who have sustained orthopaedic, gynaecological, obstetric or brain injuries, often with life changing or catastrophic results. She also has a particular interest in handling cases of cauda equina syndrome. Her clients are often concerned initially about the complexity of the claims process, so she makes sure she guides them through the legal maze and gives them the clarity they need to feel reassured and confident. Maya is approachable and open with her clients and takes the time to get to know them and understand their concerns. She knows that the legal process can be daunting, so she makes it a priority to put clients at ease and let them know that they are in the best possible hands.
Richard Coleman
RWK Goodman
Richard, a partner at Royds Withy King, has specialised in clinical negligence claims on behalf of claimants since 1997. Richard’s particular specialisms are: cerebral palsy and birth injury claims, including Erb’s palsy spinal injury claims involving paralysis bariatric (weight loss) surgery claims vascular claims and amputation adult brain injury claims fatal claims cardiology claims. Richard is accredited under the Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Scheme and sits on the Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel. He is also one of the national brain injury charity Headway’s approved personal injury solicitors, and holds Senior Litigator status with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Richard has given lectures on clinical negligence law and has been interviewed on local radio as well as TV. In his spare time Richard enjoys travel, skiing and is an avid football fan of his beloved Wolves!
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Alison Johnson
Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP
Alison handles a wide practice covering the full spectrum of clinical negligence matters but with an emphasis on complex neurology cases, oncology, general practice, gynaecology and maternal injury, and paediatric claims. She is very focused on client care and ensuring that clients are looked after during the investigation process and then fully compensated. Alison has advised on a number of maximum severity claims recovering damages settlements of £10 million+, but she also has considerable experience of managing mid-high value claims, including fatal claims, often on a conditional fee agreement basis. Alison is an accredited solicitor with both the AvMA and Law Society specialist clinical negligence panels and receives enquiries through them. She is also a trained AvMA helpline volunteer and speaker. Alison is a mental health champion and culture and welfare partner for the personal injury and clinical negligence team and splits her time between the Basingstoke and Oxford offices.
Julie Marsh
Boyes Turner
Julie is a partner and long-standing member of the medical negligence team at Boyes Turner and specialises in complex and high value clinical negligence work. She specialises in cases involving spinal cord injury including cauda equina syndrome cases, amputation and cases involving infections such as meningitis. Julie is committed to making a difference to the lives of those severely injured as a result of medical negligence. She investigates cases thoroughly leaving no stone unturned and secures early admissions of liability as a result, allowing applications for substantial interim payments to help clients access support and rehabilitation. Julie writes on topical issues relating to clinical negligence and is especially interested in issues relating to spinal cord injuries and amputation.
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Catherine Bell
Freeths LLP
Catherine is a Director and solicitor-advocate specialising in clinical negligence, with particular expertise in complex neurological claims. She represents both children and adults who have suffered brain damage as a result of medical treatment, including children with cerebral palsy. Catherine also handles a broad range of clinical negligence claims including obstetric and gynaecological injuries, spinal injuries, visual impairment, amputations and fatal claims. Catherine has a proven track record of securing good results in complex high value cases, particularly those involving life changing injuries. She is a strong negotiator who has been praised for her confidence and conviction in fighting for the best outcome. She is recognised for ability to resolve complex issues and to successfully conclude challenging cases, including those considered too difficult by other firms. Catherine is recommended for the way she guides people through the complicated and technical legal process. She helps to secure answers and obtain the compensation to fund care and equipment that can help rebuild their lives. She is praised for her “patience and positivity” and for her supportive, empathetic approach – helping reduce the stress of litigation during what can be a difficult and emotional time. Catherine is listed as a Recommended Lawyer and recognised as a Rising Star in The Legal 500 (2024 edition), meaning she makes a material difference to the firm’s offering. Catherine is accredited as a legal panel member by AvMA, the specialist charity dealing with medical accidents, and also as a senior litigator by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Catherine is also ranked as a Leading Individual in Chambers & Partners (2024).
Vanessa Wand
Boyes Turner
As a senior associate-solicitor in Boyes Turner's outstanding medical negligence team, Vanessa Wand has secured millions of pounds of compensation for her clients. Vanessa deals exclusively with complex, high value medical negligence claims.  She has a specialist interest in obstetric and birth-related injuries to both mother and baby, which include cerebral palsy and severe neonatal injury, maternal death, complex stillbirth with psychiatric maternal injury, perinatal tears and cloacal injury, alongside her broad-based expertise with cases involving amputation and other life threatening, fatal and permanently disabling conditions. Working both independently and as an invaluable support to the partners in the group, Vanessa is an expert in quantifying claims involving cerebral palsy and other types of neonatal, severe, neurological injuries, consistently enabling her clients to receive the highest possible compensation awards.

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