Francesca O'Neill

Francesca is “is an absolute pleasure to work with”… “a fierce and meticulous advocate with technical and procedural expertise at her fingertips” known for “powerful and clever advocacy, capable of blowing other advocates out of the water”. She is “brilliant on her feet, eloquent, confident and astute with her opponents and the court" and has "a gift for distilling complicated information into a powerful argument".

Her practice includes multi-million pound negligence claims in respect of doctors, lawyers, accountants, insurance and construction professionals, and high-profile cases examining the duty of care owed by public authorities, NHS Trusts, police & emergency services, and the Government. Cases often span multiple areas of law, and she is highly ranked by the legal directories in each of her practice areas.

She has particular expertise on matters of procedure (Chehaib v KCH NHS Trust [2024] EWHC 2 (KB), Butler v Ward [2025] EWHC 877 (KB)), costs (Captivatiun Ltd v Orr Litchfield Solicitors Ltd [2025] EWHC 679), and at Inquests of high complexity, all as sole Counsel.

Francesca is on the Attorney-General’s B Panel of Counsel. In 2023, she was appointed a part-time Judge of the First-tier Tribunal, sitting in the Health and Social Care Chamber.

Francesca sits on the Bar Council Women’s Retention Committee. She was appointed to sit on the Inner Temple Bar Liaison Committee, and is a member of the PNBA, PNLA, and LCLCBA.