Christopher Barnes KC

Practice Areas

Chris practises exclusively in high value personal injury and clinical negligence claims. He has a particular expertise in claims against the Ministry of Defence, acting for the claimants in the reported claims of Bradlaugh (CC), Birch (HC and CA), Ifede (HC) and Lillington (CC and CA). He successfully opposed the making of a GLO in the NIHL claims (Abbott). He recently recovered £8,000,000 for a serviceman rendered paraplegic following an accident while training. His general personal injury work includes catastrophic brain, spinal injuries and amputation claims, with numerous settlements in excess of £10,000,000. He represented the successful appellant in the Court of Appeal in the case of Crooks v Hendricks Lovell (regarding the interplay of the CRU regime and CPR Part 36). He represented the claimants in Fry v McFaull (considering the Coles v Perfect guidelines) and Brown v Alexander (re. disclosure of case management records, Lawtel). He represented the successful claimant in Hadley v Przbylo in which the Court of Appeal allowed the recovery of the costs of solicitors attending rehabilitation MDTs. He covers the full range of clinical negligence claims including medical, surgical, GP, dental and physiotherapy negligence. He represented the claimant in the case of EXN v Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Trust in which damages with a capitalised value of £27,300,000 were recovered. He is instructed in a number of ongoing clinical negligence claims with a (capitalised) value in excess of £30,000,000.