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

“Richard has a great manner with clients and is able to put them at ease. He is always well-prepared and thorough in conference, his written work is clear and comprehensive, his advice is always measured, and his critical analysis of evidence is first rate.”

Legal 500, 2024 (Clinical Negligence)

“Richard is the perfect counsel: analytical, pragmatic, and conscientious, and he is very calming and collaborative in his approach. He has a very good manner with lay clients and expert witnesses, he is able to explain the most difficult legal concepts in a manner easily understood by clients, his advice is concise and definite, and he has an excellent understanding of complex medical issues and an ability not to be distracted by irrelevant detail, but to get to the root of the issues.”

Legal 500, 2024 (Personal Injury)

Strengths: “Richard has a straightforward approach with clients and is very good with experts in conference.”

Chambers UK Bar, 2024 (Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury)

Richard Norton handles a huge range of clinical negligence cases including delayed diagnosis of cancer and surgical negligence claims. He adroitly handles claims concerning injuries leading to long-term disability. He is most often instructed to represent claimants.

Richard Norton’s personal injury practice focuses on severe injury claims arising from RTAs. He principally acts for claimants, with a focus on advisory work. He is well known for his expertise in cases involving complex expert evidence.

Nominated for the award of “Clinical Negligence Junior Barrister of the Year” at the 2023 Legal 500 Bar Awards, Richard is an expert in clinical negligence and complex personal injury. His day-to-day practice usually involves conferences with or cross-examination of experts. Initially he chooses to meet the client at the earliest possible point (at home if necessary) to establish good rapport, and then to advise on the appropriate experts to call, as well as assisting in advising on the evidence that is obtained. He remains regularly involved throughout the case, drafting paperwork including schedules and counter-schedules, appearing at CCMCs, advising on disclosure, witness statements and drafting agendas for joint meetings. Most cases conclude successfully at JSMs, but some proceed to trial. In addition, Richard lectures regularly to solicitors on diverse subjects such as interim payments, industrial diseases, and procedural points. He acts as a point of contact in the recommendation of appropriate experts on a daily basis.

Richard has prepared a briefing note on the 8th edition of the Ogden Tables. Download it here.

Clinical negligence

Richard receives instructions in cases of birth damage, delayed diagnosis, surgical negligence, and GP negligence.

Cases

  • M-v-Abertare Bro Morgannwg University Health Board [2023]: Delay in treating Sepsis leading to death. Settled £510k
  • W-v-Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT [2023]: Failure to diagnose stroke leading to profound disability. Settled for £400k.
  • L-v-Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust [2022]: Inadequate advice by NHS111 operator leads to serious brain injury. Settled at JSM for £450k
  • M-v-Durham and Darlington Hospitals NHS FT [2022]: Post operative infection leading to leg amputation. Settled at JSM for £1.5m.
  • F-v-Barnsley Hospital NHS FT [2022]: Substandard post-operative care leading to fall and nerve injury. Award of £600k.
  • H-v-MB NHS Trust [2014]: Wrongful birth.
  • T-v-PAH NHS Trust [2014]: Delayed diagnosis of CDH.
  • E (Deceased)-v-E H & R NHS Trust: Vascular surgical negligence.
  • O-v-H [2012]: Failure to diagnose psychosis leading to suicide.
  • O-v-ABM LHB [2012]: Negligent withdrawal of Aspirin leading to MI.
  • M-v-ABM [2012]: Double amputation as a result of delayed diagnosis of blocked fem-fem bypass graft.

Catastrophic & fatal accidents

Cases are multitrack, high value with heavy expert involvement, often with brain and spinal injuries as well as serious orthopaedic and vascular cases.

Cases

  • H-v-MOJ [2022]: £1.5m  settlement at JSM
  • S-v-MIB and Others [2022]: £1.3m settlement
  • H-v-R [2014]: £1.75m provisional damages.
  • P-v-M [2014]: £1.3m.
  • C-v-MIB [2014]: £5m.
  • Murphy-v-D [2013]: PPO
  • Wright-v-MIB [2012]: PPO
  • Ibrahim-v-MIB [2011]: PPO

Disease

Richard undertakes mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions, VWF/CTS and NIHL cases as well as cases of occupational stress.

Cases

  • T-v-BRB [2014]: Date of knowledge pre-1963 and causation
  • Thompson-v-Renwick [2014] EWCA Civ. 635: Liability of a parent company for the acts and/or omissions of a subsidiary.
  • S-v-NYT [2014]: CTS and vibration exposure

Personal injury

Richard is a highly experienced personal injury barrister. The majority of his cases are high value, catastrophic injury cases or cases with a complicating feature.

His day-to-day practice usually involves conferences with or cross-examination of experts. Initially he chooses to meet the client at the earliest possible point (at home if necessary) to establish good rapport, and then to advise on the appropriate experts to call, as well as assisting in advising on the evidence that is obtained. He remains regularly involved throughout the case, drafting paperwork including schedules and counter-schedules, appearing at CCMCs, advising on disclosure, witness statements and drafting agendas for joint meetings. Most cases conclude successfully at JSMs, but some proceed to trial.

ADR

Richard is a CEDR-accredited mediator, an expert in clinical negligence and complex personal injury claims and is recognised as calm, very competent and having a very sharp intellect. He has participated in numerous mediations as well as joint settlement meetings. Most of these have settled on or shortly after the meeting. His cases range from lower value difficult cases (often fatal accident claims) to high value claims involving periodical payments as well as pathfinder meetings in catastrophic injury cases.

Richard also has experience of mediating and negotiating in cases of personal injury involving multiple parties arising out of construction accidents, serious RTA claims and EL and PL claims including traumatic brain injury, chest diseases, chronic pain syndromes and in cases involving allegations of FD.

Expertise

  • Clinical negligence
  • Personal injury
  • Industrial disease
  • Stress at work
  • Professional negligence
  • NHS and Healthcare

Dispute Experience

Richard has spent many years as a litigator in clinical negligence and serious personal injury and now gained extensive experience participating in mediations involving surgical negligence, GP neg-ligence, lack of consent and failure to diagnose as well as in personal injury including multi-party construction accidents and intractable and complex personal injury cases with heavily contested expert evidence. Recent examples include:

  • Claim against NHS Trust for inadequate advice allegedly given by NHS111 leading to death from ex-sanguination;
  • Claim against NHS Trust for obstetric negligence leading to loss of fertility and bowel problems;
  • Claim against NHS Trust for alleged failure to refer urgently to a vascular surgeon leading to toe amputations;
  • Claim by employee against employer and subcontractors on site for injuries caused by a fall due to a working platform being left unsafe;
  • Claim against road traffic insurer for serious injuries complicated by psychiatric negligence lead-ing to lithium toxicity and consequent catastrophic brain injury;
  • Claim against NHS Trust for ‘wrongful birth’ as a result of failure to note foetal abnormality on scanning;
  • Claim against NHS Trust in respect of failure to refer to a haematologist resulting in delayed di-agnosis of gene mutation causing serious liver damage.

Richard has undertaken numerous cases of occupational stress, usually in an NHS context which have proceeded to and concluded at joint settlement meetings. Examples include:

  • Claim against NHS Trust for alleged delay and inadequacy in dealing with disciplinary proceed-ings leading to psychiatric injury;
  • Claim against NHS Trust for alleged failure to manage staff adequately leading to ostracisation, bullying and harassment and causing psychiatric injury;
  • Claim by group of individuals for mismanagement of staff restructuring process leading to multiple psychiatric injury;
  • Claim by teacher for lack of support in class when managing unruly pupils leading to stress and depression.

Richard has also undertaken many personal injury cases which have concluded at settlement meetings. Examples include:

  • Claim for complex regional pain syndrome arising from dropping heavy item onto unprotected foot;
  • Claim for periodical payments in cases of catastrophic brain injury – resulting in agreement for PPOs;
  • Provisional damage claims in cases of risk of epilepsy and also for complications arising from serious bowel injury.

Appointments

  • Junior Counsel to the Crown – Regional A Panel
  • Executive Committee Member of the PNBA

Memberships

  • PNBA
  • PIBA
  • AVMA
  • Northern Circuit Medical Law Association