The Bar - Regional Bar • Northern Circuit
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Personal injury

St John's Buildings

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The members of St John’s Buildings‘ personal injury team are well-equipped to act for both claimants and defendants in cases arising from road traffic accidents, industrial disease, and fraudulent claims. The set is home to Richard Norton, who mostly acts for claimants in high-value claims, and he was recently instructed by the claimant in Farooq v Ahmed, which concerned a road traffic accident leading to an above the knee amputation. Philip Grundy is another key junior here, and the majority of his work is claimant based, although he does have expertise in representing defendants too. Grundy acts in cases regarding brain injuries, amputations, and fatal accidents. Peter Harrison’s personal injury practice encompasses fatal accidents, catastrophic injury, and industrial diseases. He represented the defendant in Shackleton v Laser Tradeco; while performing maintenance work in a basement of a hotel, the claimant alleges that he was exposed to stagnant sewage and rat excrement which caused acute hepatitis and severe liver damage.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Martin Craggs is a very helpful, friendly, well-organised, and efficient clerk. He always does his best to arrange conferences at times and locations that are convenient for clients and very promptly responds to emails. He gets things arranged and does a great job.'
  • 'Martin Craggs is very assistive. He provides assistance in a timely manner and is available and responsive.'
  • 'Martin Craggs is very efficient and quick to respond. He ensures that deadlines are met and invoices are sent out promptly. '
  • 'The service provided by the clerks is excellent. Martin Craggs is always extremely helpful and co-operative and nothing seems to phase him or is too much trouble for him.'
  • 'Martin Craggs is a first-class clerk. He is very efficient and will always go above and beyond to ensure chambers can provide what is required. He is full of suggestions for barristers for a particular case and is always keen to find solutions.'
  • 'Good, efficient clerking and clerks are always available. Chris Ronan has done a great job there for many years and Martin Craggs does a great day-to-day job making sure papers are turned around, conferences arranged, and hearings covered.'
  • 'The clerks, especially Martin Craggs, are very approachable and always willing to assist to accommodate where possible. Where counsel is unavailable, early discussions are initiated by the clerks to try and resolve any concerns.'
  • 'Martin Craggs in particular is a superb clerk. Always approachable and easy to deal with. No task or problem is too much trouble for him to deal with.'

Silks

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.
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Peter Harrison
St John’s Buildings
 'Peter has extensive and wide knowledge, he is clear with claimants, and he is professional. He is very good technically and exceptional with clients and experts alike, and he is exceptional when considering expert evidence and questioning experts in conference.'
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Richard Norton
St John’s Buildings
‘Richard provides very clear advice on complex liability and medical issues that is easy for the client to understand. Clients always take to him and comment on his caring, warm, and empathetic approach in conference, and he is strong in negotiation during ADR.'
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Philip Grundy
St John’s Buildings
 ‘Even compared to silks, no one matches Philip’s ability to map out a case strategy, including his management of experts. His expert connections are outstanding, and it is so rare for a true superheavyweight such as Philip to be so approachable and easy-going; he never takes advantage of his popularity or standing.’
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Andrew Lawson
St John’s Buildings
 'Andrew is a very professional and decisive advocate. He has a strong rapport with clients and is able to get to the heart of a claim quickly, he is reliable and always happy to express an opinion outside of formal instructions if needed, and he is very knowledgeable in his fields of specialism and empathetic when dealing with clients.'
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Henry Vanderpump
St John’s Buildings
 ‘Henry is very good with clients with brain injuries. He is attentive and patient and gives lay clients advice which is easy to understand, and is also super intelligent and has an eye for detail.’
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Gareth Thompson
St John's Buildings
 'Gareth  always grasps the issues of a case very quickly, no matter the complexities of the issues. He is excellent with clients and witnesses, in particular making them feel relaxed and at ease, his paperwork is excellent and he turns papers over very quickly, and his advocacy is succinct and to the point.'

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