Harry Lambert

Profile

Harry practises in the areas of clinical negligence, personal injury and healthcare regulatory law.

Publications

Another patchwork quilt (on material increase in risk) – Clinical Risk, September 2010
The interaction of Reasonableness and Best Interests, Clinical Risk, January 2011.
In February 2010 Harry was asked by the Bar Human Rights Committee (Malawi Casework Support Project) to produce their first ever memorandum to the Malawi Law Society, on the issue of costs in personal injury litigation.
Updated the 2010 Edition of the APIL Guide to Personal Injury section on Damages including the passages on indexation, Ogden six, and the recent landmark case of Peters v East Midlands SHA.

Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury

Harry undertakes the full range of work in this area; from complex clinical negligence or product liability matters, to interlocutory work and pleadings.

Recent work includes advising on: issues of disclosure and accrual in a multi party dental negligence action against the MOD; the merits of a secondary victim arising out of a hospital death; and the quantum of a “wrongful conception” claim. Harry frequently represents families at inquests and has done so in inter alia paediatric, psychiatric, gastrointestinal and radiological cases.

He is also regularly led in cases of the utmost value and complexity. He was junior counsel in Glassenbury v Short, a highly complex case of perinatal hypoxia materially contributing to postnatal periventricular leucomalacia (led by Robin Oppenheim QC). Similarly K was a multi-million pound cerebral palsy claim involving complex issues over care / accommodation (led by Robin Oppenheim QC).

Harry regularly advises in employer’s liability cases and RTAs from the border of the fasttrack threshold right up to high value multi track cases. Harry recently advised on an amputation settlement worth in the region of £500,000 (less a reduction to reflect contributory negligence).

Again, he is regularly led in cases of the highest value. M v J, for example, was a multi-million pound case involving catastrophic injury to a young child (led by Gerwyn Samuel).

Harry has an interest in historic sex abuse cases. He is currently bringing such a civil action pleaded at over £300,000. Likewise he recently acted through the Western Circuit Free Representation Unit for a Claimant bringing a secondary victim claim arising out of the abuse of her daughter, in which the central issue is the legal definition of the ‘immediate aftermath’.

Harry is also developing a practise in the crossover between personal injury and international law. He is taking a case on the interplay between personal injury and state immunity to the Court of Appeal (Ogbonna v Nigeria) whilst he has also been led in several high profile cases such as:

C v MOD: Article 2 claim arising out of the death of a soldier in Afghanistan (led by Richard Hermer QC).
Mutua & 4 others v FCO: Sixty year old claim for personal injury arising out of alleged torture on the part of the Colonial Administration in Kenya (led by Richard Hermer QC and Phillippa Kaufmann)
Guerrero & Others v Montericco & Another: Carried out extensive work on quantum and Part 35 Questions in this group action against a British based mining company for complicity in the torture of environmental protestors in Peru (Led by Richard Hermer QC and Guy Vassall-Adams).

Product Liability and Group Actions

Harry has a keen interest in product liability and group actions. In his own right he recently advised dozens of potential claimants on their claims under the DPA arising out of the loss of back up discs.

As junior counsel, he has been involved in work of the highest profile:

Thalidomide: He has recently been instructed in litigation arising out of the 1960s tragedy.
Trossel: Group action arising out of the provision of stem cell therapy and aqua tilis treatment to sufferers of progressive diseases (led by Robin Oppenheim QC).
Mutua & 4 others v FCO: Sixty year old claim for personal injury arising out of alleged torture on the par of the Colonial Administration in Kenya (led by Richard Hermer QC and Phillippa Kaufmann)
Guerrero & Others v Montericco & Another: Carried out extensive work on quantum and Part 35 Questions in this group action against a British based mining company for complicity in the torture of environmental protestors in Peru (Led by Richard Hermer QC and Guy Vassall-Adams).

Professional Discipline and Regulation

Harry is regularly instructed in regulatory proceedings in the healthcare context such as the Healthcare Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and General Pharmaceutical Council. He has represented registrants practising in: nursing, physiotherapy, biomedical science, psychotherapy and pharmacology.

He undertakes both interlocutory work and trial advocacy and has appeared for registrants facing the full gamut of charges; from competency-based allegations to those concerning long and sustained fraudulent activity or drug addiction.