Focus On… Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury

Focus on
22 Oct 2019

This Focus On Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury gives you a snapshot on some of the activity in these areas during 2019 by looking at the content published by Hardwicke’s Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury team.

We hope you find it useful.

News from the Hardwicke Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury Team

The team has been very much in the public eye recently:

  • Colm Nugent successfully persuaded the High Court to make its first every ruling on the duties of McKenzie friends/unlicensed legal representatives.  This landmark ruling has raised the issue with the public and also those in Parliament.  Colm is currently liaising with a number of MPs regarding government intervention in this area.  He and Jasmine Murphy also recently took part in a Legal 500 round table discussion on the topic aimed at raising public awareness and prompting greater control.
  • Charles Bagot QC meanwhile succeeded in an important appeal for NHS Wales concerning consent to treatment, departing from NICE guidelines, joint replacement surgery, appeals on findings of fact and the adequacy of judicial reasons.
  • Aneurin Moloney‘s Brushett v Hazeldean case involving a pedestrian injured by a cyclist aroused strong feelings when reported.
  • Gemma Witherington also made the Daily Mail as she has been acting for Mr D’Agostino who was injured when he fell whilst carrying a vase at Yotam Ottolenghi’s restaurant in Belgravia.   Mr D’Agostino’s employer, the florist Caroline Farthing, whom he accompanied whilst she was replenishing clients’ floral displays, was held responsible and ordered to pay substantial damages.
  • Less controversially, Gemma added an appointment as Civil Recorder, Midland Circuit (the youngest ever such appointment) to her appointment as a Deputy District Judge.

We should also mention that we will be welcoming Carolyn McCombe as Practice Director in December 2019.  Carolyn is taking over from Deborah Anderson who is retiring after 40 years working with the Bar.  You can find out more details about Carolyn here.

Events

The Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury team give regular seminars, including seminars for junior lawyers (J2J) and cross-over practice area seminars. These seminars are not only a great way to brush up on areas of the law but also to network with like-minded lawyers and get to know members of chambers.

Recent Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury seminars included:

If you are interested in attending any seminars at Hardwicke and/or would like more information about an event and/or a copy of the materials, just get in touch by emailing events@gatehouselaw.co.uk.   You can also take a look at our upcoming events here.  If you would like to be on our mailing list, sign up here.

Articles

Here you can find all of the articles written this year by the Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury team. Click on a title to read the full article:

Click here to see all articles and case comments.

Podcasts and videos

Legal Directories

We are delighted to report that the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury team did really well in both Legal 500 and Chambers UK.  All members of the team over 10 years call are recommended with Legal 500 recommending Hardwicke as a set for Personal Injury work.  Gemma Witherington is also recommended for Insurance Fraud.

Legal 500 referred to the fact that “Hardwicke is excellent from top to bottom” and referred to the fact that it is “an exciting, forward-thinking, solutions-focused set with a huge amount of commercial expertise“.  Practice Manager, Natasha Clingham-Devlin, who manages the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury team was singled out for special mention: “an outstanding clerk, always helpful, very good at actioning matters urgently, and delivering a good service“.  Indeed one client said: “They are not a stuffy set.  There is a real relationship between them and those instructing them….the best thing about chambers is its service“.

Chambers UK is similarly fulsome: “The set has adopted a really commercial approach and the clerking system is superb at Hardwicke.” 

You can read all Hardwicke’s recommendations in Chambers UK here and Legal 500 here

Areas of Expertise

The team covers all the following areas of Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury:

  • Clinical Negligence 
  • Disease 
  • Fraud 
  • Inquests & Inquiry 
  • Personal Injury 
  • Product Liability 

You can find out more about each area by going to the Clinical Negligence & Personal Injury expertise page.  If you would like to discuss a possible instruction, please contact the Practice Management Team.

Disclaimer

This content is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No responsibility for the accuracy and/or correctness of the information and commentary set out in the article, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed or accepted by any member of Chambers or by Chambers as a whole.

Contact

Please note that we do not give legal advice on individual cases which may relate to this content other than by way of formal instruction of a member of Gatehouse Chambers. However, if you have any other queries about this content please contact: