COURSE TUTORS

Professor Derek P Auchie – Academic, Tribunal judge, Arbitrator and Mediator

Judicial Experience

Derek has a judicial career spanning 17 years. He sits regularly on two judicial Tribunals. He has chaired over 600 hearings in which expert evidence has featured. This evidence has included medical and health professional evidence as well as evidence from social work and education experts. In each case, he has considered written and oral expert (and factual) evidence, assessing the weight of the evidence and reaching a decision. He has written a fully reasoned decision in each of these cases. In most of these cases, Derek has worked with other professionals on Tribunal panels, discussing how to assess the evidence and what the outcome should be.

Practice Experience

Before becoming an academic 20 years ago, Derek was a litigation lawyer, practising in criminal and civil cases. In that role, he instructed experts and questioned and cross-examined them in court. Derek acted for hundreds of clients over 7 years of practice, gaining a solid understanding of how the judicial process in Scotland operates. Derek is an active accredited arbitrator and mediator. He has mediated over 20 disputes.

Education Experience

Derek holds a Chair in Dispute Process Law at the University of Aberdeen in a top 10 UK Law School. He has taught (among other subjects) the law of evidence (including expert evidence) at university for nearly 20 years to thousands of law students, as well as to students on other degree programmes. Derek has taught the law and practice of evidence to legal and non-legal professionals in development seminars for over 10 years. He has published books, articles and book chapters on the law and practice of expert evidence. He has designed and delivered judicial training in this area. Derek has his own dispute resolution consultancy, Auchie Dispute Resolution: resolve-dispute.co.uk .

Andrea Barnes - Specialist Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Mediator

Mediation Experience

Andrea is an international mediator and trainer in facilitative and evaluative mediation. Whilst a large proportion of her clinical, dental and personal injury practice involves high value, complex, catastrophic or fatal incidents Andrea is equally happy to assist on lower value matters. Prior to Call Andrea initially gained 4 years’ experience in fatal and catastrophic injuries whilst working at renowned Defendant insurer solicitors Davies Arnold Cooper (now part of DAC Beachcroft). She has also acted as consultant to a leading insurer on “ways to minimize financial leakage in personal injury and clinical negligence claims”. In 2015 Andrea carried out an extensive analysis of the costs market post-Jackson reforms for a leading private equity initiative. She currently specialises in complex costs issues.

Andrea is approved for the following panels: Medical Protection Society (Costs Panel) and Public Access Accredited

Practice Areas

Clinical negligence

• Allegations of failure to investigate, diagnose or treat
• Maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology with a particular specialism in neonate deaths
• General practice and ambulance trust cases
• Surgical issues
• Infection cases in particular neonate and infant infection cases
• Neurological issues such as sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and PCOS malformation
• Cardiovascular and cardiothoracic cases
• Dental issues
  
  

Personal injury

• Industrial/occupational disease
• Road Traffic Accidents in particular motorcycle and cycle collisions
• Occupiers’ liability
• Employer’s liability
• Public liability
• Product liability
• Highways
  
  

Costs

• High-value costs disputes
• Issue-based costs arguments
• Joint and several liability costs arguments
• Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008
• Repudiatory and repudiated contracts
• Statutory interpretation
• ATE issues pre and post-Jackson
• Success fee issues pre-Jackson
• Capacity issues relevant to retainers
• Non-party costs orders
  
  

She is currently a co-opted Governor, a Director of Trust Mediation, an international mediation trainer and a peer mediation co-ordinator trainer. ad of Chambers at Normanton Chambers and has undertaken a notable volume of Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence matters.

Jonathan Dingle - Barrister and Specialist Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Mediator

Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Experience

Jonathan is joint Head of Chambers at Normanton Chambers and has undertaken a notable volume of Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence matters. He also practises as a mediator. His Clinical Negligence expertise extends over three decades - regularly lecturing on the subject and authoring the chapter (on mediation and ADR) in the leading textbook - Powers & Harris. His cases extend from death through diabetic trauma and ambulance delays, to drug and other errors, as well as fundamental orthopaedic mistakes.

Training Experience

Jonathan was the founder and first Hon Secretary of the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) with Sir Brian Neill in 2002 and spent eight years as the Secretary of what became the leading body for civil mediation in the UK. He is now a trustee and Chairman of the mediation charity working worldwide - The Society of Mediators. He leads courses for the Society of Mediators in the United Kingdom, the West Indies and South Africa.

normantonchambers.com/people/1-jonathan-dingle

Jonathan Godfrey - Barrister

Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Experience

Jonathan specialises almost exclusively in clinical negligence work as his repeated recommendations in the Legal 500 attest. He is also very experienced in and undertakes Multi-Track personal injury work.

His expertise covers the whole breadth of clinical negligence work from orthopaedic injury to cancer misdiagnosis and cerebral palsy birth injury. He has considerable and invaluable experience in conducting conferences with medical experts of all disciplines, and often on a multi expert basis. He regularly undertakes JSM’s , and in doing so has achieved very favourable and high value settlements.

Jonathan provides in depth expert medico-legal training to medical experts and those wishing to become medical experts in the field of clinical negligence.

Jonathan has a comprehensive knowledge and abiding interest in medico-legal issues and regularly publishes articles and lectures.

Training Experience

Jonathan is an Accredited Advocacy trainer for the NE Circuit and an Inner Temple Advocacy Trainer. He regularly lectures at AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents) local and regional conferences on all aspects of medico-legal topics. Other topics covered include:

• Practice and Procedure in Personal Injury Litigation (6 hourly lectures covering differing aspects of personal injury litigation)
• Gratuitous Care Claims
• Wrongful Birth - an overview of McFarlane and Rees
• Be Patient! - an overview of Masterman-Lister and Drinkell in relation to compromises in actions involving patients and minors
• Issues of Negligence and Duty of Care in Adventure Sports Tourism
• Evidence in Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Cases
• Rehabilitation Protocol and the role of experts
• Back Injury Claims
• Fatal Accident Claims - An overview
• An overview of consent in clinical negligence
• Everything but the kitchen sink - A review of Robshaw v United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and other high value clinical negligence damage cases

More information here: parklaneplowden.co.uk/barristers/jonathan--godfrey

Andrew Gray - Solicitor

Medico-Legal Experience

Andrew has over 12 years' experience as a solicitor in both personal injury and clinical negligence cases including for one of the largest and most experienced personal injury law firms in the country. He is the founder and Managing Director of Truth Legal Solicitors, a rapidly growing ethical law firm of specialist personal injury claim solicitors, established in 2012, and with offices in Harrogate, London, Manchester and York.

Andrew's areas of expertise include:

• Personal injury
• Workplace accidents
• Employment disputes
• Industrial disease claims
• Settlement Agreements
• Road traffic accidents
• Assaults at work
• Clinical negligence
• General litigation

Training Experience

Andrew has considerable experience as a presenter and has delivered many talks to large groups on legal matters. He is the President of the Golden Triangle Group of BNI which provides business networking events for employees.

truthlegal.com/meet-the-team/andrew-gray/

Georgina Parkin - Solicitor

Medico-Legal Experience

Georgina Parkin is the Managing Director and co-owner of Truth Legal solicitors, based in Harrogate and Leeds. Truth Legal specialises in personal injury, clinical negligence, professional negligence, family law, immigration law and employment law. The firm’s website (truthlegal.com) has a wealth of legal information and ranks as one of the best-read law blogs in the country, with a readership of around 40,000 per month.

Georgina joined Truth Legal in 2013, rapidly rising to the position of Director in 2016 and Managing Director in 2020. In January 2021, Georgina became co-owner of Truth Legal. She was President of the Harrogate and District Law Society in 2020 and continues to sit on the membership committee of the Harrogate and District Law Society.

Georgina has over ten years of experience in personal injury law, which includes claims for accidents at work, road traffic accidents, assaults at work, public liability, product liability and clinical negligence. Whilst Georgina acts solely for Claimants at Truth Legal, she has previously represented Defendant insurance companies and retail organisations. She has particular expertise in chronic pain disorders and serious injury cases.