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Our specialist team of barristers has been consistently rated as one of the leading chambers specialising in personal injury law. We have a long-established reputation for dealing with all types of accident and disease cases, from the simplest traumas to 'unparalleled expertise in certain niche areas', including spinal cord and brain injury’ (Personal Injury, Legal 500).
Clients instruct us for our significant expertise, our reputation for excellence, and our professional but friendly approach. The team, which includes three King's Counsel, is large enough to offer in depth expertise at all levels, while providing a personal and sensitive approach to clients and families. The advice and representation we provide is clear, practical and delivered in a way that is down-to-earth and easy to understand.
The expertise of our members has been consistently recognised by Chambers UK and Legal 500, who both consider Devereux to be a leading personal injury set.
"A super set of chambers with a large depth of knowledge on all personal injury matters, including the most serious of catastrophic injury" - Legal 500 2023
“Members are well regarded for their handling of claims involving injuries of the utmost severity, including high-value catastrophic and psychiatric injury claims, as well as those concerning amputations and major organ damage.” – Chambers UK 2022
“The 'exceptionally strong' offering of 'counsel with a range of experience and expertise' at Devereux ensures that the set is seen as 'something of a powerhouse when it comes to high-value claimant personal injury work'.” – Legal 500 2022
“The set retains its reputation as a go-to for the most high-profile and difficult cases in the market, and members have considerable experience of appearing before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.” – Chambers UK 2021
“Devereux Chambers have a wealth of experience in personal injury and industrial disease with superb barristers at every level.” – Legal 500 2021
“A highly regarded set in the personal injury market housing significant expertise in complex and high-value catastrophic injury claims.” – Chambers UK 2020
“Members demonstrate 'far-reaching knowledge of catastrophic injury cases' and have 'client care skills to match'. The set has 'unparalleled expertise in certain niche areas', including spinal cord and brain injury.” – Legal 500 2020
Whilst our reputation is built on high-value catastrophic work, our senior and junior barristers offer a broad range of experience covering the full range of claims, including:
- Road Traffic Accident claims (the entire gamut, including LVI, fraud, credit hire)
- Serious Injury claims (including Neurotrauma and Spinal Injury)
- Employers’ Liability claims
- Public Liability claims
- Disease litigation (particularly asbestos related disease)
- Accidents Abroad & International Travel claims
- Psychiatric injury claims
- Health & Safety prosecutions
- Inquests
- Military claims
- Civil actions against the police.
Our members are regularly instructed to appear on novel and difficult cases raising novel points of law. We have considerable expertise in settling cases at joint settlement meetings and mediations, but first and foremost we are litigators and advocates. We are recognised for our excellence in trial advocacy on both liability and quantum issues and our strategic advice on how to get the best result for our clients and their families.
Several of our members are on the Spinal Injuries Association’s approved list of personal injury and catastrophic injury barristers.
Our members contribute to specialist publications such as PIBULJ, JPIL and PILJ and give lectures and seminars both externally and as part of our own continuing education programme.
Much of our work for claimants is undertaken on a conditional fee basis.
Examples of our most notable work includes:
- Griffiths v TUI (UK) Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1442 - Court of Appeal rules that uncontroverted expert evidence can be rejected in same way as controverted expert evidence
- X v Kuoni Travel Ltd [2021] UKSC 37 - travel package holiday claim. Was referred to Court of Justice of European Union; and see CA decision at [2018] 1 WLR 3777
- Burnett or Grant v International Insurance Company of Hanover Ltd [2021] UKSC 12 - Win in Supreme Court for widow entitled to recover under insurance policy
- Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc and others [2021] UKSC 3 - jurisdictional battle. Claim brought by over 40,000 Nigerians relating to numerous oil spills occurring over an extended period in Nigeria
- Farah v Abdullahi and others [2020] EWHC 358 (QB) - win for pedestrian claimant in two car assault
- Cape Intermediate Holdings v Dring [2019] 3 WLR 429 - successful Supreme Court case permitting asbestos support group, non-party to litigation, to access relevant documents from the court
- ATX (A Child by her Litigation Friend ATY) v CRS and DPS - an unprecedented settlement in a child catastrophic injury road traffic accident case that is the highest-ever personal injury award in the UK. A lump sum of £3.1 million and a Periodical Payment Order (PPO) of £950,000 per annum
- Lungowe v Vedanta Resources plc [2019] UKSC 20, [2019] 2 WLR 1051 - successful appeal to SC on issues of jurisdiction and parent company liability for Zambian nationals
- Shelbourne v Cancer Research UK [2019] PIQR P16 - appeal on liability for accident at Christmas party based on direct and vicarious liability
- AB (representing the late GH) v KL [2019] EWHC 611 (QB) - fatal accident claim
- Noel Wilkinson v Micran and others - a case concerning a Claimant who was rendered tetraplegic following a building site loading accident in London and was then repatriated to Belfast
- A mother accompanied her son to the Defendant’s trampoline park. While waiting for him she bounced on a ‘web bed’ or Olympic trampoline, but due to the power of the springs she was flipped over backwards landing with her head folded under her body weight, suffering a broken neck and tetraplegia
- Michael Gilchrist (A Protected Party by his Mother and Litigation Friend) v. Greater Manchester Police [2019] EWHC 1233 (QB) - representation of the successful Claimant who was repeatedly tasered and subjected to CS spray by Officers from the Greater Manchester Police who attended an incident in the early hours of the morning when he was suffering from a psychotic episode. Unreasonable use of force found
- Asif Ahmed v Leon Maclean - The Claimant, a partner in a firm of solicitors, suffered a catastrophic spinal injury leading to paraplegia in a Mountain biking accident when under instruction by the Defendant. Liability was denied. The claim proceeded to trial on liability in the High Court before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker and was successful.
Please refer to individual barristers’ profiles for further details of experience, recent and significant cases.
Barristers with this Expertise
- Robert Glancy KC
- Stephen Killalea KC
- Robert Weir KC
- Richard Royle
- Colin Mendoza
- Christopher Walker
- Peter Edwards
- Richard Cartwright
- Stephen Cottrell
- Rob Hunter
- Jonathan Butters
- Laura Bell
- Matthew Sellwood
- John Platts-Mills
- Harry Sheehan
- Hitesh Dhorajiwala
- Charlie Hill
- Thomas Westwell
- Matthew Bignell
- Aparajita Arya
- Alice Defriend
- Josh Neaman
