Expertise

Richard specialises in claimant medical negligence work covering a broad spectrum of claims against GPs, NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers within England and Wales. Although he has experience of a broad cross section of medical negligence litigation, he has a particular expertise in complex brain (including birth injury) and spinal injury claims.

Richard’s experience includes:

• Birth injury claims – cases involving hypoxic injury, neonatal hypoglycaemia, defective neonatal resuscitation and perinatal stroke
• Brain injury – acquired injury resulting from stroke, negligent medical treatment such as defective resuscitation/intubation, or delayed diagnosis and treatment of infection
• Spinal injury – cases involving injury sustained during spinal surgery, delayed diagnosis of spinal epidural abscesses, spinal cord tumours and cauda equina syndrome.

Career

King’s College London (LLB); Bar Vocational Course (BVC) Inns of Court School of Law; qualified as a solicitor in the Medical Negligence department at Kingsley Napley in April 2005; partner at Kingsley Napley LLP May 2014 to February 2026.

Experience

• Acted for a man in his late 40s in connection with the delayed diagnosis of a spinal epidural abscess resulting in paraplegia
• Acted for a child rendered tetraplegia during surgery to debulk a cervical spinal cord tumour
• Acted for a child who sustained a hypoxic brain injury and a perinatal stroke around the time of his birth resulting in dyskinetic quadriplegic cerebral palsy
• Acted for a man in his mid-40s in connection with a delay in diagnosis and treatment of cauda equina compression leading to severe neurological, bladder and bowel dysfunction.

Recognition

Richard is recognised as a leading practitioner in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.

Chambers and Partners:

• “He is an intelligent man with a keen eye for detail on difficult cases. He is experienced in the job, he has an easy way with clients, and he is very robust with the other side.”
• “He’s very assiduous, has an impressive grip on the case and is easy to work with. He provides excellent service for his clients.”

Legal 500:

• “Richard Lodge stands out for his attention to detail, commitment to his cases, and hard work to achieve the best possible results.”

Accreditations and Memberships

• AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents) Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel
• The Law Society Clinical Negligence Accreditation Panel
• Practitioner Member of APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers)

Publications and Media

Co-author (with Elizabeth-Anne Gumble KC) of Clinical Negligence: A Practitioner’s Handbook.