Industrial Disease

Isobel, a Partner and Head of the Asbestos and Industrial Disease Team has, for well over 20 years, specialised in asbestos disease cases for Claimants. Consequently, she has vast experience in this specialist litigation.

Isobel’s work includes securing high value settlements for mesothelioma sufferers, enabling her clients to access novel, non-NHS funded treatments paid for by Defendants’ insurers. Her clients’ lives have thereby been extended and they have the security of having approved treatment paid for by the Defendants’ insurers for the rest of their lives.

Isobel has also successfully handled asbestos product liability claims and advises and assists clients in bringing claims in the US for mesothelioma caused by asbestos contaminated talc in powder and make-up.

Isobel does not shy away from difficult cases. She achieved success early in her career in asbestos litigation in the case of Cox v Industrial Power (India) Ltd CA 2007, the first in a series of defining so-called “low exposure” cases in which Defendants have sought to test causation in mesothelioma cases by reference to exposure levels. The Claimant had worked seasonally in power stations and for the Defendant for a matter of weeks. Despite the Defendant arguing that any exposure he had would have been de minimis and therefore, not actionable, the Court held that the exposure was not minimal and found for the Claimant’s widow, the Claimant, having sadly succumbed to his illness.by the time of the trial. The judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal on appeal by the Defendant. The case has been referred to in many subsequent judgements.

Isobel recently won a case for a mesothelioma victim who had suffered bystander exposure to asbestos dust for just a week, while installing sonar equipment on board a naval vessel. The settlement included the cost of private medical treatment.

Isobel also secured a settlement of a fatal asbestosis claim, in which she was instructed following the victim’s death. She persisted despite the labyrinthine corporate history of the Defendant, which even the insurers professed not to understand. The evidence of the extent of the Deceased’s exposure and whether it was sufficient to have caused asbestosis was always contentious but a few weeks before trial, a settlement offer was received and accepted by the Deceased’s widow. This is a case which may would have turned down at the outset.

Isobel takes a holistic approach to client care: not only does he help her clients to obtain compensation and treatment, but she also ensures they obtain their full state benefit entitlement and helps to put care regimes in place, where needed. She works closely with medical professionals, local support groups and related charities to ensure the support needs of victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases are met.

She is known for being tremendously calm, reassuring, helpful and supportive of her clients and their families, as well as a tenacious and skilled litigator and negotiator.

Isobel’s commitment to supporting asbestos victims means she has been involved with many support groups over the years, her involvement culminating in her working to establish the London Asbestos Support Awareness Group, a charity covering London and the South East. She has also fundraised for research into treatment for mesothelioma over the years.

Isobel’s expertise is recognised by those she works with and through independent accreditation by The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers of which she is a Fellow and Asbestos and Occupational Disease specialist. She also assesses others seeking this accreditation.

Whilst specialising in asbestos disease work, Isobel has past experience of other industrial diseases, particularly other occupational respiratory conditions and work–related cancers.

Isobel trained and worked in a number of firms in Sheffield before being appointed Associate at Irwin Mitchell’s Newcastle office between 2009-15. She has been a Partner at Hodge Jones & Allen since June 2015.

English, French

Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) Fellow and Accredited Asbestos and Occupational Disease Specialist and assessor

Master of Arts 2.1 in French, University of Aberdeen Post-Graduate Certificate in Education in Modern Languages and TEFL/TESL, University of Warwick Common Professional Examination, University of Northumberland Solicitors’’ Final Examination, University of Northumberland.