Matthew White > Chambers of Matthew White > Bristol, England > Barrister Profile
St John's Chambers Offices
St John's Chambers
101 VICTORIA STREET
BRISTOL
BS1 6PU
England
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Matthew White
Work Department
Personal Injury Catastrophic Injury Employers’ Liability Public Liability Industrial Disease Personal Injury Costs Pain litigation Highways & Rights of Way Inquests & Public Enquiries Mediation Property Damage & Insurance Disputes
Career
Call: 1997
Matthew White, Head of Chambers, specialises in personal injury litigation. He is ranked in Band 1 in Chambers UK and Tier 1 in The Legal 500 guide. He is described by clients as the “master of fine detail” and “forensically thorough”.
With over 25 years’ experience, Matthew has expertise in serious injury claims, particularly brain and spinal injuries, highway law, industrial diseases (particularly asbestos), pain litigation, and inquests, as well as the more routine employers’ liability, public liability and road traffic claims.
In addition to personal injury work, Matthew has specialist expertise in highway law outside of the injury context, and in nuisance claims, particularly those involving invasive species.
Reported cases:
- Barlow v Wigan [2021] QB 229. Success for the claimant at the Court of Appeal in a personal injury claim concerning the creating of highways maintainable at public expense; path was highway maintainable at public expense because of when it was constructed.
- Young v Merthyr [2009] PIQR P23. A little old now, but worth mentioning alongside Barlow, because Young remains the modern restatement of the law that a landowner owes no duty in respect of defects on highways that are not highways maintainable at public expense, which Matthew successfully argued on behalf of the Defendant.
- Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council [2024] UKSC 15; [2024]2 WLR 1237. Success for the defendant council at the Supreme Court in a nuisance claim concerning the encroachment of Japanese knotweed.
- Jenkinson v Robertson [2022] 4 WLR 46. Overturned a finding of fundamental dishonesty on appeal on behalf of a claimant, inadequate notice having been given.
- Brown v South West Lakes [2022] QB 464. Success for the defendant in the Court of Appeal: an occupier does not owe a duty of care to protect drivers from dangers off the highway.
- Shelbourne v Cancer Research [2019] PIQR P16. Employer not liable for assault by one employee on another at an office Christmas Party.
- McDonald v (1) Department for Communities and Local Government; and (2) National Grid Electricity Transmission PLC [2013] EWCA Civ 1346; [2014] PIQR P7. Successfully resisted claim at trial and in the Court of Appeal arising from exposure to asbestos in the 1950s. The claimant succeeded against the defendant that Matthew did not represent at Court of Appeal and Supreme Court level based on the Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931.
- TR v Devon [2013] EWCA Civ 418; [2013] PIQR P19. Defendant driver settled a claim brought by an injured passenger, then successfully pursued the highway authority on the basis that the accident had been caused by a pothole (edge rutting/ haunch failure). Useful authority for the proposition that a highway authority can use a version of the Bolam test in relation to the care that they apply to highways.
- McKie v Swindon College [2011] EWHC 469 (QB). Successfully argued that a reference provided by defendant in relation to claimant was negligent and caused significant loss.
Memberships
Personal Injury Bar Association
Education
Oxford University (BA; MA).
Lawyer Rankings
Regional Bar > Western Circuit > Personal injury
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Matthew White – St John’s Chambers ‘Matthew has an incredible attention to detail. He is meticulous in his planning and written work and his persuasively balanced but no-nonsense approach makes him an exceptional advocate.’
St John’s Chambers is ‘an impressive set with a number of high-quality barristers’, praised by some as ‘the strongest set in the South West for claimant personal injury litigation’. Christopher Sharp KC handles medically and legally complex claims, often involving catastrophic brain and spinal injuries, for both claimants and defendants, while Andrew McLaughlin, a ‘tenacious advocate with vast experience’, represents insurers in high-value, multi-track claims. In Jenkinson v Robertson, Matthew White, ‘a master of fine detail’, represented a claimant in his appeal against an initial finding that he had been fundamentally dishonest in his claim following a road traffic accident. Jimmy Barber, ‘excellent at getting to the important issues in a case‘, specialises in claims involving accidents abroad, hearing loss, asthma, freezing injuries, and chronic pain, as well as in cases with complicating procedural issues.