Barrister Profile

Main Areas of Practice

Personal Injury

Biography

I have a wide ranging County Court and High Court personal injury practice representing Plaintiffs, and also insurance companies. I am engaged in cases concerning industrial injuries, and diseases, including dermatitis, asbestos related conditions, hand arm vibration syndrome, repetitive strain injuries, and psychiatric injuries caused by stress in the workplace, and bullying and harassment. I am also involved in dental and medical negligence claims, professional negligence cases, and defamation actions. I also appear in disciplinary proceedings. In addition to the provision of advocacy, I advise generally on personal injury law issues,professional negligence cases, defamation actions and on disciplinary matters.

Qualifications

Member of the Junior Bar from 1983

Member of the Personal Injury Bar Association

Legal Advisor to the Northern Ireland Social Care Council Disciplinary and Regulatory Body from 2007

Member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar of NI
for 20 years

Current Chairman of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar of NI from February 2012

Member of the Bar Council from February 2006 to February 2012

Experience

Burns, Jean v Governors of Templemore Secondary School & Western Education & Library Board [2000] NIQB 12; [2000] NIJB 217 – employment, health & safety, employers’ duty of care, teacher absent from work because of stress, whether employer owing extended duty of care to ensure teaching duties did not bring about a repetition of illness.

McClurg, Charles Wayne & others v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary; in re Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Group Action [2007] NIQB 53 – Case involving a wide range of legal issues; Plaintiffs in group action comprising some 5,500 former and serving members of RUC and PSNI claiming to have sustained a psychological/psychiatric disorder following exposure to trauma experienced during the course of the terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland; claims for PTSD and other related conditions; whether the Defendant as their employer failed to take reasonable care to prevent them suffering from foreseeable harm; when such a duty of care arose; whether training and education of officers was adequate; the extent of the duty of care owed by the Defendant to his officers, and whether that duty of care included a duty to provide treatment.

McClurg, Charles Wayne & others v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary; in re Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Group Action [2009] NICA 37 - PTSD Group Action; appeals concerning the Defendant’s liability in respect of personal injury alleged to have been suffered as a consequence of service as members of the RUC; whether the issue of liability of the Defendant could as a matter of law be affected by the availability of resources; whether the Defendant’s failure to provide training and education was not in breach of his duty of care to individual Plaintiffs; whether there was a duty to treat.

McGettigan, Louis v Short Brothers PLC [2011] NICTY 4 – Plaintiff seeking damages pursuant to Protection from Harassment (NI) Order 1997 in relation to threatening text messages sent to him by another employee of the Defendant; whether texts were such as to have severely harassed him in the workplace; whether the Defendant was vicariously liable in respect of the harassment of the Plaintiff thereby; whether texts amounted to harassment in terms of the definition in the statute; consideration of the applicable test to render the Defendant company vicariously liable.