Civitas Law

Nick acts on behalf of claimants and defendants (including central government and the Welsh government). His case load consists of catastrophic injury claims: traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries (tetraplegia and paraplegia) and upper and lower limb amputations. Such cases have included claimants in a persistent vegetative state, minimally aware and locked in. They also include those who have sustained injuries abroad. He is involved in litigation where orthopaedic and psychiatric injuries and pain syndromes remove or substantially reduce the ability to work. Fatal Accident Act claims and appeals against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority also form an important part of his work.  Clinical negligence: Nick acts on behalf of claimants. He is instructed under BTE policies, public funding certificates and CFAs. His case load includes negligence arising out of: anaesthesia; consent to treatment; negligence in diagnosis (missed, delayed and wrongful; including cancer misdiagnosis); GP practice; nursing care; prescriptions; surgery (including spinal cord). He was instructed by the first minister of Wales to carry out an investigation into the death of Robbie Powell from Addison’s Disease and to report to and make recommendations to the Welsh ministers as to any lessons to be learnt for the promotion of or improvement of the social well being of Wales and the operation of the Welsh Health Service. The report was published in July 2012. Health and safety: Nick is instructed on behalf of individuals, companies, local authorities and the health and safety executive. He has extensive experience in advising and conducting trials in the Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court as well as representation in the Court of Appeal. Cases involve the assimilation and marshalling of technical and medical expert evidence and are often of public importance. Cases include: agricultural fatalities; workplace fatalities; fatalities caused by lost wheel syndrome; death of an independent roofing contractor; work place injuries; asbestos exposure; capsizing of a commercial barge on a coastal waterway, killing a member of the crew and cases involving members of the public eg large scale scaffolding collapse in a city centre; death of a paraplegic when self hoisting and death of a pupil in a school playground (R v James Porter (CA) (2008) ICR 1259 – breach of duty by headmaster, to a pupil who died following an accident in a school playground and the meaning of risk in health and safety legislation).

Called 1987, Gray’s Inn. Junior counsel to the Crown (Provincial Panel) (since 2000); junior counsel to the attorney general’s Panel of Prosecution Advocates – List A (since 2002); junior counsel to the Welsh Assembly Government in the specialist field of personal injuries law (since 2009); previously junior counsel to the counsel general of the National Assembly of Wales (Common Law Panel) (from 2000 to 2009); mediator (civil and commercial) (since 2009); advocacy trainer (Grade A) for pupils and new practitioners on the Wales and Chester circuit and students of Gray’s Inn. Course director of advocacy training for pupils on the Wales and Chester circuit.

PIBA; member of the Spinal Injuries Association list of approved counsel; member of the Advocacy Training Council (training and accreditation committee); independent chairman of appeal panels for the Welsh Rugby Union; member of the Six Nations Rugby and PRO 12 Rugby Disciplinary Panels.

Radyr Comprehensive School, Radyr, Cardiff; University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; St John’s College, Cambridge.