Francesca O'Neill

Practice Areas

Francesca specialises in Professional Negligence (particularly lawyers, accountants, insurance brokers, and construction professionals), Clinical Negligence, and Local Authority Liability. She enjoys advising on difficult cases at the juncture of private and public law.

Francesca is recognised as a highly effective advocate, with particular expertise and experience at trial and at appellate level. She regularly appears in the High Court as sole Counsel (see, recently, Ellis v John Hodge Solicitors (A Firm) [2022] EWHC 2284 (Comm) and Osborne v Arnold [2022] EWHC 1982 (Admin)) and acts for a range of insurers in the London market including Travelers and Hiscox.

Francesca also has a strong background in clinical negligence claims and has been instructed by both Claimants and the major medical indemnifiers (NHSR, MDU) to appear at contested hearings in cases worth in excess of £2 million. Her technical ability at interlocutory hearings has led to many high-value claims being struck out.

Francesca was appointed to the Attorney-General’s C Panel of Counsel and often appears in the High Court representing Government departments (eg. Morrell v Health & Safety Executive [2022] 6 WLUK 142). She was also appointed a part-time Judge of the First-tier Tribunal in February 2023.

Professional Memberships

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.

Personal

She has two young children and a cat, who frequently drive her bananas.