Specialisms & expertise
Fiona is dual qualified as a solicitor in both Scotland and England and Wales. She was admitted as a solicitor in Scotland in August 1992 and in England and Wales in August 1997. She specialised in both personal injury and clinical negligence litigation. She is a member of both the Solicitors Regulation Authority Clinical Negligence Panel and the Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) Panel. She is an assessor to the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) Clinical Negligence Panel and is also an accredited member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Fiona has been recognised as a leader in the field of claimant clinical negligence litigation by Chambers and Partners Guide to the Legal Profession and by Legal 500 for many years. Chambers has variously described her as "proficient and highly personable, held in high regard by clients and peers for her shrewd grasp of the issues”, and as “running a tight ship.” Her "user friendly demeanour and sympathetic attitude towards her clients" was highlighted. She has been "recognised by both her clients and peers as having an extremely strong grasp of the field" and "commentators noted her persistence on even the toughest cases". Most recently Fiona is noted as being extremely experienced with a tough fighting spirit combined with a lovely personality. She has particular expertise in cerebral palsy and birth injury cases. She also has developed special interests in obstetrics, brain injury (both adult and child), anaesthesia, renal cases, complex orthopaedic cases and has experience of representing families at Inquests.
Notable cases
- In 1997 Fiona acted in cases involving clinical trials and organ transplantation, achieving £300,000 following an inappropriate and fatal kidney transplant.
- In 1998 she secured record damages, which were noted by the Court to be the highest awarded at the time. The case involved a dependency claim in respect of the death of a single parent.
- In 2001 she was involved in a complex virology case concerning severe fetal damage, representing the Official Solicitor in the High Court.
- In 2002 Fiona contributed to a change in the law that halted the administering of dental anaesthetics to children in dental practices by general dental practitioners alone.
- In 2006 Fiona recovered £550,000 for a lady who lost her leg below the knee following negligent orthopaedic treatment for an ankle fracture.
- In 2007 Fiona had three significant victories in ‘secondary victim’ PTSD cases, recovering significant damages on behalf of parents of a baby who witnessed her traumatic birth and suffered damages as a result, and for the partner of a claimant who collapsed in front of him and suffered brain damage as a result of the defendant hospital Trust’s negligence.
- In 2008 Fiona recovered the equivalent of £4.1 million, by way of both lump sum and periodical payments for life, in a case involving brain damage following cardiac arrest caused by negligent failure to diagnose Long QT Syndrome, leaving a young mother unable to care for herself or her young children.
- In 2009 in a case attracting significant media attention, Fiona recovered damages equivalent to £6.3 million lump sum on behalf of Eleanor Matraves who sustained significant brain damage (cerebral palsy) as a result of the negligent mismanagement of her birth at the Lister Hospital in Hertfordshire.
- In 2013 Fiona recovered in excess of £2 million on behalf of a lady who lost her leg following negligent knee replacement surgery.
