We have a formidable bench of silks and an impressive number of experienced senior juniors in the clinical negligence team, with many of our younger juniors showing great promise in this important area of law.

Our breadth and depth of experience in this increasingly specialised field enables us to provide objective, careful advice, and expert advocacy in Court.

Although the great majority of our clinical negligence work relates to claims in England and Wales, we are frequently instructed in large claims proceeding in Commonwealth jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Jersey or the Cayman Islands.

We have also been involved in many high profile multi-party claims, such as the Paterson litigation, Rob Jones group action, PIP Breast Implant litigation, M.E.S.H. litigation, Benzodiazepine litigation, Radiation Action Group Exposure (“RAGE”), MMR litigation, the OCP (oral contraceptive) litigation, and public inquiries such as Infected Blood Inquiry, the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust Inquiry, the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry and the inquiry arising out of the retention of organs at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, Alder Hey.

We have established ourselves in this field by acting for a wide range of clients. We act for privately and publicly funded Claimants, with diverse interests across the whole medical, dental, and alternative treatment spectrum. Our Defendant clients include hospitals and organisations within the NHS, private hospitals, medical defence organizations and other insurance bodies.

We also believe that our strength in other areas of medical law, such as disciplinary, medical crime, inquests, Court of Protection and public law, gives us a real advantage. We can take a wider view, and provide our clients with advice and representation tailored to the circumstances of the particular case.

1COR Quarterly Medical Law Review (QMLR) is an online publication written by our barristers covering the latest developments in medical law. Find previous articles on our Archive website here and subscribe by emailing us at medlaw@1cor.com.

Awards & Recommendations 

1COR was awarded ‘Clinical Negligence Set of the Year’ at the Legal 500 Bar Awards in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024, and at the Chambers UK Bar Awards in 2016, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Since 2020, four of our silks have also been awarded ‘Clinical Negligence Silk of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards. Forty members of our team are recognised for clinical negligence by both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500, with a further five recommended by the Legal 500.

“1COR is the leading clinical negligence chambers. There are no other chambers that have so many leading counsel, senior juniors, and junior juniors who specialize in this field and excel in it. Furthermore, this has been the case for many decades. Apart from the high degree of intellectual ability, there is a very strong chambers ethos of togetherness, friendship, enjoyment of other members’ company, and members helping each other. This applies horizontally and vertically.” (Legal 500 2027)

“1 Crown Office Row draws consistent praise from market commentators for being “leaders in the market” and housing “barristers of all levels with a wide range of expertise.”” (Chambers & Partners 2027)

“Superb. A standout set for clinical negligence work.” (Legal 500 2027)

“Members are regularly instructed in the most complex and high-profile cases in the market, and are experienced in the handling of claims relating to injuries of the utmost severity. The team acts for both claimants and defendants, and the set’s enviable client list includes several medical defence organisations, hospitals, insurers and individual doctors. The set’s barristers have recently handled a complex wrongful birth claim, acting for the local NHS Trust.” (Chambers & Partners 2027)

“A first class set and a leader in the clinical negligence field.” (Legal 500 2026)

“Excellent client care and extraordinary depth and breadth of knowledge.” (Chambers & Partners 2026)

“1 Crown Office Row are the leading clinical negligence set in the Country and rightly so in my opinion. Their strength in depth in unparalleled against their competitors at both silk and junior level.” (Legal 500 2025)

“Top of the field” “Incredible standard of counsel.” (Chambers & Partners 2025)

“This is a brilliant set of Counsel. You know that instructing any counsel from this set means that you will have a barrister who is extremely talented and knowledgeable.” “Crown Office Row is superb, you are always in trusted hands even if not used the barrister before as the clerks excel at their job.” (Legal 500 2024)

Instructing solicitors report that the team at 1COR “continue to be at the very top of their game for clinical negligence and provide consistently outstanding counsel and clerking facilities.” (Chambers & Partners 2024)

Who to contact:

Clerking team

london@1cor.com

020 7797 7500

1COR Great Legal Bake Off 2021 Cakes

Great Legal Bake Off 2021

We're thrilled to be back baking for the Great Legal Bake Off this week with members and clerks...

KCs

Henry Witcomb QC 1COR

Henry Witcomb KC

Call 1989
Silk 2016 | Joint Head of Chambers

Clodagh Bradley KC

Call 1996
Silk 2016 | Joint Head of Chambers
Lizanne Gumbel QC 1COR

Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel KC

Call 1974
Silk 1999
Paul Rees QC 1COR

Paul Rees KC

Call 1980
Silk 2000
David Hart QC 1COR

David Hart KC

Call 1982
Silk 2003
Martin Forde QC 1COR

Martin Forde KC

Call 1984
Silk 2006
Angus McCullough QC 1COR

Angus McCullough KC

Call 1990
Silk 2010
John Whitting QC 1COR

John Whitting KC

Call 1991
Silk 2011

David Evans KC

Call 1988
Silk 2012

Richard Booth KC

Call 1993
Silk 2013
Owain Thomas QC 1COR

Owain Thomas KC

Call 1995
Silk 2016
Jeremy Hyam QC 1COR

Jeremy Hyam KC

Call 1995
Silk 2016
Peter Skelton QC 1COR

Peter Skelton KC

Call 1997
Silk 2016
Shaheen Rahman QC

Shaheen Rahman KC

Call 1996
Silk 2017

Sarah Lambert KC

Call 1994
Silk 2018
Neil Sheldon 1COR

Neil Sheldon KC

Call 1998
Silk 2019
Robert Kellar QC 1COR

Robert Kellar KC

Call 1999
Silk 2019
Andrew Kennedy 1COR

Andrew Kennedy KC

Call 1989
Silk 2021

David Manknell KC

Call 2001
Silk 2024

Juniors

Giles Colin 1COR

Giles Colin

Call 1994
Sydney Chawatama 1COR

Sydney Chawatama

Call 1994

Richard Smith

Call 1999
Christopher Mellor 1COR

Christopher Mellor

Call 1999
Matthew Barnes 1COR

Matthew Barnes

Call 2000
Iain O'Donnell 1COR

Iain O’Donnell

Call 2000
Cara-Guthrie-1COR

Cara Guthrie

Call 2000
Shahram Sharghy 1COR

Shahram Sharghy

Call 2000
Suzanne Lambert 1COR

Suzanne Lambert

Call 2002

Judith Rogerson

Call 2003

Richard Mumford

Call 2004
Rachel Marcus 1COR

Rachel Marcus

Call 2005
Leanne Woods 1COR

Leanne Woods

Call 2005
Pritesh-Rathod-

Pritesh Rathod

Call 2006

Benjamin Seifert

Call 2007

Isabel McArdle

Call 2008

Matthew Hill

Call 2009

Alasdair Henderson

Call 2009
Claire McGregor 1COR

Claire McGregor

Call 2009
Paul Reynolds 1COR

Paul Reynolds

Call 2010
Rory Badenoch 1COR

Rory Badenoch

Call 2010

Hannah Saxena

Call 2010
Lois Williams 1COR

Lois Williams

Call 2012

Jim Duffy

Call 2012

Dominic Ruck Keene

Call 2012

Jessica Elliott

Call 2013
Hannah Noyce 1COR

Hannah Noyce

Call 2013

Marcus Coates-Walker

Call 2013
Michael Deacon 1COR

Michael Deacon

Call 2014

Robert Mills

Call 2014
Emma Louise Fenelon 1COR

Emma-Louise Fenelon

Call 2015

Gideon Barth

Call 2015
jo moore 1cor

Jo Moore

Call 2015

Jonathan Metzer

Call 2016

Amelia Williams

Call 2016

Rajkiran Arhestey

Call 2017

Darragh Coffey

Call 2018
Thomas Beamont 1COR

Thomas Beamont

Call 2019
Alice Kuzmenko 1COR

Alice Kuzmenko

Call 2018

Gareth Rhys

Call 2019

Lucy McCann

Call 2020

Jasper Gold

Call 2021

Thomas Hayes

Call 2021

Nicholas Jones

Call 2021

Lance Baynham

Call 2021

Rebekah Lee

Call 2022

Allyna Ng

Call 2021

Matthew Leitch

Call 2024

Leo Kirby

Call 2024

Josephine Lunnon

Call 2023

Samuel Talalay

Call 2025

Associate Members – Door Tenants

Rhoderick Chalmers 1COR

Rhoderick Chalmers

Call 2014

Associate Members – Overseas

Matthew Flinn 1COR

Matthew Flinn

Call 2010

Academic Consultants

Caroline-Cross

Caroline Cross

Call 2006