Simon Readhead KC
Deka Chambers ‘Simon's preparation and attention to detail are second to none. He is an outstanding advocate and can be relied on to provide a thorough examination and rigorous assessment of all issues.’
Fielding a ‘great spread of really good barristers at all levels’, Deka Chambers represents claimants and defendants in a broad spectrum of regular clinical negligence work, ranging from high-value cognitive injuries acquired at birth, to catastrophic surgical errors seeing disputes over causation, breach of duty and quantum. Edward Bishop KC was also notably active in Mongan v University of North Midland NHS Trust, a case pertaining to cognitive injury at birth triggered by poor monitoring of nutrients following birth, and raised the question of contribution of damage by medical staff, along with complex quantum calculations.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Exceptionally good and always work with me to achieve what we need to do. Clark Chessis has been an exceptionally good senior clerk.'
- 'Michael Goodridge runs a tight ship. Great to work and understanding the commercial realities. Individually the clerks as a whole have been excellent.'
- 'Philip Austin is an excellent clerk - helpful, friendly and responsive.'
- 'Excellent communication and good range and availability of Counsel.'
- 'A great spread of really good barristers at all levels. Good availability. Excellent news letters, case law updates and seminars.'
- 'Deka are one of the very leading sets. They are a very able group and clearly benefit from knowledge sharing and collaboration.'
- 'Excellent set, wide range of barristers with varied experience across clinical negligence cases. '
- 'The Deka set of clinical negligence lawyers are all of high quality and have a wide breadth of experience. I always know that my cases are in safe hands when i instruct them.'
Silks
Leading Silks
KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.
Edward Bishop KC
Deka Chambers ‘Ed is astute and an excellent advocate, my first choice for handling the most sensitive cases when challenging liability.’
Jacob Levy KC
Deka Chambers ‘Jacob is extraordinarily proactive and responsive - the best in these qualities by miles around. He never lets a stone of evidence go unturned and is very capable advocate.'
Stuart McKechnie KC
Deka Chambers ‘Exceptional strategist, strong in negotiations, clients feel confident in him quickly.’
Giles Mooney KC
Deka Chambers ‘Confident, assured, great to work with and great with the clients. His written work is incisive to the issues, detailed and clear. He is impressive in court, with an excellent court friendly manner, likely to be persuasive to the judge. He is highly experienced and his depth of knowledge and great expertise come across in all interactions.’
Laura Johnson KC
Deka Chambers 'A superb technical lawyer with a strong advocacy style and willing to take a risk on difficult cases.'
Grahame Aldous
Deka Chambers ‘Grahame is very good at establishing case theory and providing pragmatic solutions to cases. He is a strong negotiator.’
2024 Silks
KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.
Paul Stagg KC
Deka Chambers
Juniors
Leading Juniors
Leading juniors are those with significant experience of key cases, strong market recognition from both peers and clients, and are seen as future candidates for silk.
Laura Begley
Deka Chambers ‘Her attention to detail and thoroughness is second to none - she can pick up on things you might have missed and give guidance.’
Lisa Dobie
Deka Chambers ‘Very astute and knowledgeable. Gets to the point quickly. Exceptionally good with clients and generally a delight to work with.’
Angus Piper
Deka Chambers ‘Angus is a very confident and competent senior junior. He does high value work and tackles difficult cases in his stride. A fair but formidable opponent.’
Simon Trigger
Deka Chambers ‘Approachable, patient with clients, good with experts, effective negotiator.’
Holly Tibbitts
Deka Chambers ‘Holly is calm and reassuring in conference. She has an excellent eye for detail and not only identifies the issues but finds solutions. Holly never loses sight of the human element of a claim.’
Francesca O’Neill
Deka Chambers ‘Powerful and clever advocacy, capable of blowing other advocates out of the water. Francesca thinks very quickly on her feet and then delivers calm and considered submissions. Impressive. Not afraid to fight for her clients.’
Helen Pooley
Deka Chambers – ‘Helen is good with clients, and always has a good grasp of the case instructed on, as well as the nuances. She is firm with experts in conference and her drafting is impressive.’
Benedict Rodgers
Deka Chambers ‘He is empathetic and puts the clients at ease. His analysis of the evidence is excellent and he isolates the key issues in order to enable progression of the claims in the most useful direction. He has tactical expertise.'
Adam Dawson
Deka Chambers ‘Adam is great with clients in conference, setting out their cases clearly in language they will understand. His advice is always clear and he has great attention to details.’
Laura Elfield
Deka Chambers ‘Laura is incredibly committed to the clients and the case. She never lets you down. She goes above and beyond to ensure that she supports you. She is always on top of all the papers and has a keen forensic eye.’
Jeremy Crowther
Deka Chambers ‘Excellent negotiations skills. Practical advice and good with clients. Good persuasive advocacy.’
Hugh Rimmer
Deka Chambers ‘Hugh is fantastic with clients and detailed and practical in his advices. He is confident on his feet.’
Christopher Stephenson
Deka Chambers ‘Kind, friendly and great with clients. Expert in his field and thorough.’
Gurion Taussig
Deka Chambers ‘Gurion has a masterful grasp of the complex issues in TVT mesh claims, both legal and medical. He has a great manner with clients, who are often very upset and emotional at all points in the case where counsel is involved.’
Abigail Stamp
Deka Chambers ‘Abigail is an excellent barrister. She is particularly good with medical experts in conference, grasping complex medical issues with ease, and ensures a thorough testing of the evidence.’
Esther Pounder
Deka Chambers ‘Pragmatic and practical in her approach to litigation. Her legal knowledge is excellent.’
Simon Brindle
Deka Chambers ‘His advice is really clear and focused, as is his his pleading and drafting.’
Ella Davis
Deka Chambers ‘Ella was extremely calm and put her clients at ease. She is also professional throughout the whole experience. She is clear and direct in her questioning and was able to act accordingly when new information was presented which had not been apparent from the outset.’
Perrin Gibbons
Deka Chambers ‘Perrin gets straight to the heart of a problem and sees through the irrelevant issues very quickly. She is enthusiastic however difficult or small the case may be and provides clear practical advice.’
Dominique Smith
Deka Chambers ‘Dominique is personable, friendly, confident , knowledgeable, organised with an ability to put the client at considerable ease.’
Rising stars
Rising stars at the Bar are defined as barristers between four and eight years’ call who are seen as up-and-coming members of the Bar in their respective practice areas by clients and peers alike. They will already be instructed in high-profile, complex, and high-value contentious and non-contentious matters, working with and opposite more experienced leading counsel.
Susanna Bennett
Deka Chambers ‘Susanna’s legal research was invaluable, as were all other aspects of her contributions to tactical thinking, collating and reporting on documentation and preparing written submissions. Excellent all-round.’