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Barristers

Daniel Sokol

Daniel Sokol

Position

Daniel is ranked as a “Leading Junior” in the Legal 500 (2022), where he is described as a “good tactician with a razor-sharp mind” with “extensive expertise in clinical negligence cases”.

He has a specialist interest in personal injury, clinical negligence, and education law. He has experience of high value catastrophic PI and clinical negligence cases, including fatal accidents, tetraplegia, amputations and severe somatoform disorders. He has represented families at inquests involving deaths in hospital.

A former university lecturer with a PhD in medical ethics, he is comfortable on his feet and in writing.   In November 2011, as a pupil, Daniel was awarded the Inner Temple Advocacy Prize and he has since been involved in advocacy training for Bar students.

He undertakes a wide range of court work, acting for both Claimants and Defendants.

Daniel is the Lead Adviser for Alpha Academic Appeals, assisting university students who have been accused of misconduct, from cheating to sexual assault, who are appealing academic results, or who are undergoing fitness to practise procedures.

Daniel has been a keynote speaker in international medical conferences, an after-dinner speaker, written four books on ethics and law and over 400 articles, both in peer-reviewed academic journals and in newspapers such as the Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Independent, and the New York Times.

He is a columnist for the British Medical Journal on ethico-legal issues, for which he was awarded ‘Best Column’ by the Medical Journalists’ Association in 2015.  He appears regularly on the BBC as an expert in medical law and ethics.

In 2020, Daniel was appointed Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Research Ethics Committee.  He was formerly a member of several committees, including those for the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice, and the Royal College of Surgeons.

He is trained to accept direct instructions from the public under the Bar’s public access scheme and has authority to conduct litigation.  He is an accredited mediator.

He speaks French fluently, has conversational Spanish, and enjoys squash and tennis. He is a close-up magician and, in 2014, was admitted as a Member of the Magic Circle.

Career

Called 2011.

Languages

French (native), Spanish (conversational)

Memberships

APIL

Education

St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford (2001 BA Modern Languages, specialising in Linguistics – First Class); Green College, University of Oxford (2002 MSc Social and Economic History, specialising in Medical History); Imperial College London (2003 MSc Medical Ethics – Distinction, 2006 PhD); BPP Law School, Waterloo, London (2009-2010 GDL, Distinction); City Law School, Holborn, London (2010-11 BPTC, Outstanding).

Leisure

Close-up magic Sports

Mentions

London Bar

Clinical negligence

Leading junior4
Daniel Sokol –12 King’s Bench Walk ‘A great advocate who is able to unpick an opponent’s arguments. Very good on his paperwork and his drafting is first class.’