Personal injury and clinical negligence law
Personal injury claims involve civil claims for compensation arising out of accidents or the development of diseases resulting in physical and/or psychological injury or death.
A personal injury and clinical negligence barrister's work
The most common circumstances that give rise to claims are road traffic accidents and accidents at work or in public places such as schools, hospitals and highways. Cases may also result from medical treatment – a specialist sub-category known as clinical negligence – or from diseases contracted as a consequence of workplace exposure, for example to noise, vibration or hazardous substances such as asbestos. All types of injury are covered, ranging from a minor whiplash in a car accident to catastrophic injury involving damage to the brain or spinal cord. Claims can be worth anything from a few thousand pounds up to several million and the majority lead to civil actions in a county court or the High Court. Practitioners also appear in other forums such as inquests or criminal injuries compensation hearings.
At first tenants spend a lot of time in court, attending every day and often more than once. Court work includes small claims trials lasting one or two hours, case management hearings in larger cases, and settlement approval hearings, where the court needs to protect the interests of a child or person of limited capacity. To begin with the amount of paperwork is relatively modest; it increases as the tenant develops his or her practice and by about five years’ call it is likely to be significant. At this stage, a tenant will also be involved in a higher number of conferences with clients and can expect to spend about half of the working week in court. Senior practitioners tend to be in court less often but their cases are longer and require greater preparation, with the barrister involved from ‘cradle to grave’ and responsible for shaping the way in which the claim is presented. This will culminate in oral advocacy at a final hearing in some cases and settlement meetings in others.
What's new in personal injury and clinical negligence law?
There have been recent developments in how the courts assess the ‘quantum’ or value of a claim. In particular, new actuarial tables have created a controversial approach to calculating claims for future loss of earnings. In high value claims, periodical payments (as opposed to lump sum compensation) continue to be very popular with claimants and the Court of Appeal has recently clarified the position with regard to the relationship between a personal injury claim and statutory provision for the injured claimant.
Is personal injury law recession-proof?
So far, this area has proved to be reasonably resistant to the recession and it is certainly not as sensitive to the downturn as other fields such as property. In fact, there is an argument that a recession may even cause a slight peak in claims by flushing out claims from those in difficult circumstances.
What skills do personal injury barristers need?
- A sound understanding of basic legal principles such as duty of care, breach and causation.
- Willingness to grapple with difficult medical issues and to challenge expert opinion.
- The ability to reassure anxious clients and instil confidence in them.
- The ability to explain what are sometimes complex legal and medical arguments in a comprehensible way.
Personal injury and clinical negligence pupillages
In the first six, pupils will generally help their pupil supervisor by preparing draft statements of case, advices and skeleton arguments and accompanying their pupil supervisor to court. In the second six pupils may be given their own caseload.
Types of law practised
- Contract.
- Tort.
Jason Cox is a barrister at Ropewalk Chambers in Nottingham. He studied law at Nottingham University and was called to the Bar in 1992. He practises primarily in the personal injuries field with particular emphasis on higher value/catastrophic claims.
