Deka Chambers

Paul Stagg has a broad civil practice, based mostly in the areas of personal injury, with an emphasis on claims against public bodies, clinical negligence, police law and public law.

He mainly acts for defendants but also accepts instructions on behalf of claimants. He has extensive experience of advocacy in a range of tribunals, in the Coroner’s court and before civil juries as well as litigation heard by judges at all levels from District Judges to the Court of Appeal. He is regularly instructed in high-value and medium-value claims, often involving matters of public controversy and multiple parties. He is equally at home as a sole advocate, being led, or acting as a leading junior. He has been instructed to advise in litigation in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Jersey.

Paul has long-standing experience in the field of clinical negligence, acting mainly for defendants on the instructions of NHS Resolution and the Medical Defence Union.  He also accepts instructions on behalf of claimants.  His work covers the whole range of medical disciplines.  Recent work has included cases arising from transplant surgery, spinal surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology, neurology, colorectal surgery, diabetic podiatry, general practice and mental health care.  He is instructed in claims of high and medium value and has a deep knowledge of quantum issues, including fatal accident damages and the complex interaction between public care provision and care and assistance claims.  He advises regularly on issues relating to vicarious liability and direct duties of care.

Paul’s personal injury practice is defendant-orientated and he acts mainly for public authorities in relation to public liability claims. However, he also regularly receives instructions in relation to employer’s liability claims, particularly involving stress at work.  He also has a long-standing seam of work on behalf of claimants suffering from asbestos-related disease.  He regularly deals with issues of vicarious liability.

Paul continues to act regularly for the Metropolitan Police and local forces across England and Wales in relation to litigation in the Coroner’s Court, the County Court, the High Court and the Administrative Court.  He is frequently instructed in litigation alleging police malfeasance arising in particularly controversial circumstances, including deaths in custody and police shootings.  He regularly represents the police in relation to allegations of failures to investigate or failure to protect members of the public under the Human Rights Act 1998, and in relation to claims for stress at work brought by officers.