7BR

Personal Injury

Steven Ford KC has a specialist practice which focusses on personal injury and professional negligence claims arising out of deliberate conduct.

He appears at public inquiries and represents institutions and individuals before disciplinary and other tribunals. He advises public sector, corporate and voluntary bodies on institutional liability for deliberate injury and compliance issues associated with his areas of practice, both in England and Wales and in other jurisdictions.

He represents local authorities and private social care providers, independent and state schools, universities and other education providers, health trusts and medical practitioners, voluntary organisations, charities, sports clubs and sports regulators, police forces and religious bodies of all denominations in claims concerning assault, abuse and neglect and in social care, health care and educational negligence claims.

He is a recognised expert in the tort liability of local authorities, institutional liability for deliberate injury, social care and educational negligence and the law of limitation, non-delegable duties, vicarious liability and psychiatric injury.

Personal Injury

Steven’s particular areas of expertise are the tort liability of local authorities and other institutional defendants for deliberate injury. He appeared for the defendants in two of the leading Supreme Court cases in this area: Armes-v-Nottinghamshire CC, about whether a local authority is vicariously liable for foster carers; and Woodland-v-Essex CC, concerning the circumstances in which a common law duty of care may be non-delegable.

He has more than 25 years’ experience advising and representing defendants in abuse and related claims. He has advised the defendants in claims concerning the activities of the late Sir Cyril Smith and Bishop Peter Ball; he advised the BBC’s insurers in the Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall claims.

He has appeared in many of the leading cases concerning the negligent “failure to remove” children from abusive parents and carers, and claims for “wrongful removal”.

He has acted in numerous large (100+) group actions involving abuse and neglect in care homes, private schools and state schools.

He is presently acting for a number of sports clubs (including a Premier League football club) and sports regulators in claims concerning childhood abuse.

He acted for core participants in six of the investigations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA):

• Barnardo’s in the Child Migration module
• Rochdale City Council in the Cambridge House (Sir Cyril Smith) investigation
• Nottinghamshire County Council in the Nottinghamshire Councils Investigation
• Chethams School of Music in the Residential Schools (Part 1) module
• East Riding of Yorkshire Council in the Residential Schools (Part 2) module
• Durham County Council in the Organised Networks module

Called 1992, Middle Temple; Silk 2010.

PNBA.

Tiffin Boys School, Kingston upon Thames; Royal Academy of Music, Kingston University (1986 LRAM; 1991 LLB).