Clerking team

Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw

Senior Clerk – Civil, Commercial & Employment Clerk

Martin Craggs

Assistant Senior Clerk

Jennifer Carr

Civil Clerk

Matthew Smith

Civil Clerk

Amie Finch

Junior Civil Clerk

“Alastair has a calm and reassuring manner in even the most challenging of cases. As a result, he is greatly appreciated by clients, and his straightforward approach makes him a very impressive advocate.”

Legal 500, 2024 (Clinical Negligence)

“It is always an absolute pleasure to work alongside Alastair. He has a calm and reassuring manner in even the most challenging of cases, and as a result, he is greatly appreciated by clients. His straightforward approach makes him a very impressive advocate.”

Legal 500, 2024 (Personal Injury)

Strengths: “It is always an absolute pleasure to work with Alastair. He has a calm and reassuring manner even in the most challenging of cases and he’s an impressive advocate.”

“He’s an excellent barrister, he has a sophisticated knowledge of clinical negligence claims, as well as great vision and commercial awareness.”

“He is a very solid performer, he puts real effort into a case and works hard on them.”

Chambers UK Bar, 2024 (Clinical Negligence)

Alastair Wright enjoys a solid clinical negligence caseload as part of his broader personal injury and industrial disease practice. His expertise covers issues including obstetric negligence and the delayed diagnosis of cancer. He exclusively acts for claimants in clinical negligence matters.

Alastair graduated from Oxford University in 1988, having read English Literature. Following employment teaching English as a foreign language he returned to the UK before embarking on his legal career in Manchester following pupillage with Stephen Stewart KC (now Stewart J.).

Alastair acts for both Claimants and Defendants in Personal Injury and Professional Negligence work, but has an exclusively Claimant practice in Clinical Negligence. He has represented clients before all levels of the Judiciary, including the House of Lords. His PI work encompasses maximum severity head and spinal injury litigation and his clinical negligence work includes cerebral palsy and other birth injury as well as surgical mismanagement.

Alastair is accredited to receive instructions directly from members of the public through the Public Access Scheme.

Alastair is also Head of the Pupillage Committee within Chambers.

Clinical negligence

Vastly experienced in this field, Clinical Negligence forms a substantial proportion of Alastair’s practice. He appeared in the Court of Appeal in Evans v Birmingham & Black County NHS Trust and has regularly been instructed as Junior Counsel in high value clinical negligence claims in the High Court. His professional negligence practice includes solicitors’ negligence in PI and clinical negligence cases.

He has advised and acted in a wide variety of clinical negligence cases including surgical mismanagement; delayed diagnosis in cancer and other conditions; birth and neonatal injury; complications following cosmetic surgery and cases involving questions of informed consent.

Alastair has appeared before the GMC (acting for both doctors and the GMC), the CICA (including securing a number of maximum awards following severe head injury) and at many inquests.

Personal injury

Employers’ Liability

Alastair has extensive experience in Employers’ Liability work in both accident and disease litigation. He appeared in the Court of Appeal in one of the earliest cases on the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (Pratt v Intermet Refractories Ltd), a case which still appears in Redgrave’s Health and Safety and has undertaken numerous “disease” cases involving Hand Arm Vibration, Deafness, Dermatitis, Stress, Work Related Upper Limb Disorders etc. He was Junior Counsel in the House of Lords cases of Eastwood and Williams v Magnox Electric concerning the “Johnson v Unisys exclusion” and has acted for both Claimants and Defendants in High Court Asbestos litigation.

Public/Product Liability

Alastair has an established reputation gained over many years of Public and Product Liability litigation and has recently been asked to advise in relation to group litigation involving UK prescribed medicines.

Disease

Alastair has undertaken numerous “disease” cases involving Hand Arm Vibration, Deafness, Dermatitis, Stress, Work Related Upper Limb Disorders etc. He was Junior Counsel in the House of Lords cases of Eastwood and Williams v Magnox Electric concerning the “Johnson v Unisys exclusion” and has acted for both Claimants and Defendants in High Court Asbestos litigation.

ADR

A respected litigator in a wide variety of cases, Alastair is an experienced Barrister who will bring not only expertise, but a degree of common sense to all mediations and negotiations.

Alastair acts for both Claimants and Defendants in Personal Injury and Professional Negligence work and has represented clients before all levels of the Judiciary, including the (then) House of Lords. His PI work encompasses maximum severity head and spinal injury litigation and his clinical negligence work includes cerebral palsy and other birth injury, as well as surgical mismanagement.

He has a proven track record of success in the field of mediation, particularly in clinical negligence and personal injury work. Having conducted numerous mediations over many years as an advocate he qualified as a Mediator in 2019.

Memberships

  • PIBA
  • NCMLA