Lauren has advocacy experience gained over 30 years in both personal injury and clinical negligence work. She has considerable experience in catastrophic injury cases and has a particular interest and expertise in cerebral palsy, cancer and brain injury cases. She was instructed in the Scottish Product Liability cases relating to transvaginal mesh. She is instructed in personal injury Group Litigation in Scotland involving musculoskeletal injuries sustained by Kenyan tea-pickers. She has been involved in a number of neurosurgical cases relating to failures of the now disgraced neurosurgeon Professor El Jamel.
She appears regularly in court and has appeared in Scotland in the Sheriff Court, Outer House of the Court of Session, First and Extra Division of the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court. She has conducted many complex Fatal Accident Inquiries into hospital deaths. She has conducted one of the few clinical negligence jury trials that has taken place in Scotland.
She is a CEDR accredited mediator. She is clinical negligence lead for PEOPIL a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to promote judicial co-operation and mutual knowledge of legal and judicial systems in European jurisdictions. She was secretary to the Professional Negligence Bar Group. She is a member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association.
She was part of the legal team for the claimant in the landmark case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board and presented the first argument for the claimant in the Appeal Court in Scotland.
In 2009 she was one of two Counsel appointed by the Scottish Government to lead the Vale of Leven Public Hospital Inquiry into the outbreak of C difficile at the hospital. This lasted 3 years and was an extensive inquiry into medical and nursing issues and infection control. She was also invited to participate in the review panel led by Professor Sheila McLean into the introduction of no-fault compensation in Scotland.
She has lectured extensively to lawyers and doctors on clinical negligence and personal injury and for many years she taught consent to undergraduate dental and medical students. She teaches doctors on court craft and writing reports in conjunction with Inspire Medilaw a provider of firs- class conferences for lawyers and doctors.
Since 1995 she has been the contributing editor on clinical negligence to the Reparation Bulletin in Scotland and she contributed the chapter on Medical Law and Human Rights to the main Scottish textbook on Human Rights.
She has written a book on the law on consent post Montgomery and this is published by Law Brief Publishing and is also available on amazon with authors proceeds going to children with special needs.
Lauren undertakes conferences and hearings in-person, remotely and a hybrid of remote/in-person working.
Lauren has a blog where she posts articles on issued of law and medicine. laurensutherlandqc-lawandethics.com
Head of Medical Negligence, PEOPIL (Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers), February 2020.
2020 - CEDR accredited mediator
Contributing Editor to the Reparation Bulletin on Medical Negligence produced by W Green. Involves reporting and commenting on current medical negligence cases.
Commonwealth Lawyers Association - PEOPIL
Member of APIL
Member of American Association of Justice (AAJ)