Expertise

Alison has almost exclusively specialised in running brain and spinal cord injury claims since qualifying in 2007. She has particular experience in claims arising from the delayed diagnosis of spinal abscesses, injuries resulting from mismanagement of spinal injury, cauda equina and spinal surgery claims.

Alison is committed to securing excellent results for her clients and recognises the importance of early access to rehabilitation following a life changing injury. This has led Alison to pioneer access for clients to support networks from the outset of the case. Alison knows the importance of getting to know the individual client and their families during the lifetime of a case and focuses on a collaborative approach to ensure that compensation is tailored, as far as possible, to enable clients to fulfil their future goals and aspirations.

Experience

Notable cases:

• Alison has recovered over £7.3m in capitalised damages for a 39 year old who suffered a severe brain injury following the negligent insertion of a shunt. The Claimant was left with significant cognitive, behavioural and emotional impairment.  A six figure interim payment was obtained which enabled the Claimant to move from an assisted living facility into his own property with the assistance of support workers and a team of therapists.  The claim settled on the basis of annual payments for care and remainder by way of a lump sum. The Claimant’s family hope that the compensation will enable the Claimant to lead as fulfilling and independent a life as possible.
• Recovered damages with a capitalised value of over £7m in relation to a catastrophic brain injury case relating to the mismanagement of anti-platelet medication leading to the claimant having a stroke.
• Recovered damages for a 74 year old claimant who was rendered tetraplegic following negligent spinal surgery. The damages were awarded by way of annualised payments for care for the rest of his life and a lump sum for the remainder of the damages, with a total capitalised value of £3m,
• Acted for a horse enthusiast rendered an incomplete paraplegic following the delayed diagnosis of a spinal abscess. Damages of £3m were recovered which assisted the claimant to return to her passion for riding.
• Secured a seven figure settlement for a brain injured client in relation to the delayed diagnosis in A&E of a subdural haematoma following an assault.
• Recovered damages of £2.6m for a 56-year-old claimant with cauda equina syndrome
• Recovered damages of £1.49m for a 39-year-old claimant with cauda equina syndrome. The settlement reflected significant litigation risks as liability remained in dispute.
• Recovered damages of £1.2m for 83-year-old tetraplegic with four year life expectancy.

Alison has also been involved in significant judgments which have been widely reported in medical negligence arena including Read (whereby the court dismissed the defendants’ application for an extension of time to serve their defence to allow time for an early medical examination, a helpful judgment for claimant practitioners who are often placed under pressure by defendants to allow early examination of claimants) and Dee (a successful interim payment application where causation remained in dispute).

Career

Starting her career at Stewarts as a paralegal, Alison trained in the Personal Injury department before taking an assistant solicitor role at Irwin Mitchell. Following time at Brethertons, she returned to Stewarts as a Senior Associate in the Clinical Negligence department and became a partner in 2021.

Accreditations and Memberships

Alison is an accredited Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) Senior Litigator and a member of the Multidisciplinary Association for Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (MASCIP).  Alison is a previous committee member of Headway West London and Headway Milton Keynes.

Publications and Media

As well as regularly writing articles for the Stewarts website, Alison has also published her career story.

Personal

Alison enjoys spending time with her daughters and, when time permits, running in the Bedfordshire countryside. She has completed the Edinburgh (2015)  and Bournemouth (2016) marathons and also enjoys travelling with favourite destinations including Kenya, Australia and Italy.