Caroline Harrison

Call: 1986

Expertise

Clinical Negligence
Personal Injury
Professional Negligence
Professional Regulation

Appointments

Member of Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (GTAC) since 1999 & vice-chair since 2004. GTAC advises the UK Government on relevant technological developments and conducts ethical and scientific review of all proposed research into human gene therapy in the UK.  Involved in departmental negotiations relating to GTAC’s position in the Clinical Trials Regulations, including advising and re-drafting some sections of the Regulations and GTAC’s standard operating procedures.
Member of the Human Genetics Commission since 2004.  Recently appointed to the Government’s advisory body on genetics policy.
Chair of Local Research Ethics Committee for University College London Hospital NHS Trust. Hon. Senior Research Fellow at University College London. The LREC carries out ethical review of 120 – 150 medical research protocols per annum at one of the busiest research hospitals in the UK. Prepared and presented 2 seminars at UCL on Genetics and Confidentiality.

Practice Profile

Caroline has specialised in personal injuries, clinical negligence and related health and safety, insurance and professional indemnity work for over 15 years, and is a very experienced advocate at all levels of tribunal. She now concentrates particularly on catastrophic injury work, or other claims that raise novel or difficult issues of law or medicine. She regularly advises in serious brain damage and spinal injury claims, as well as industrial disease work and travel litigation. She has extensive experience of chronic pain cases and claims arising from occupational stress and bullying in the workplace. Caroline often works as part of a team involving overseas lawyers on international cases which raise complex issues of jurisdiction and applicable law. She is experienced in multi-party litigation and group actions, as well as in other forms of dispute resolution, including mediation. She regularly provides training and seminars, in the UK and overseas, relating to all aspects of personal injury and medical litigation and developing areas of medical research.

 

Clinical Negligence

Clinical negligence work includes claims involving catastrophic brain damage (both obstetric trauma & acquired injury); surgical claims; oncology mis-diagnosis & delayed treatment; general practice; consent in clinical trials; pharmaceuticals; claims arising out of psychiatric management and inquests.

 

Personal Injury

Other specialist personal injury work involves holiday and travel-related work. This has included group actions arising out of multi-party road accidents; food poisoning and health and safety failures affecting travellers, and employees. Gives rise to jurisdictional, contract & procedural issues.
Acts for both Claimants and Defendants in all fields and appears at all levels of court and tribunal.

 

Professional Negligence

Other professional indemnity work involves lawyers acting in the fields of clinical negligence and personal injury, and has included alleged failures to investigate; settlement below true value; pleadings failures and wasted costs.
Personal injury work (UK & international) includes spinal injuries and catastrophic brain damage claims; chronic pain claims; motor vehicle accidents; industrial injuries and diseases and public liability claims.

Notable Cases

Magee v Taymech [1994] PIQR P299 CA (costs in multi-party actions)

Smith v Vauxhall Motors [1997] PIQR P19 CA (costs)

Thorn v Powergen [1997] PIQR Q71 CA (pleading damages in asbestosis claims)

Berry v Calderdale H.A. [1998] Lloyds L.R. (Med) P179 CA (limitation & lawyer’s duties)

Additional Information

Conferences and training

• Advised public lobby group about the lawfulness of the (then) proposed regulations under the 1990 HFEA to permit therapeutic cloning.  Further ethical and legal advice given on submissions to House of Lords Select Committee on stem cell technology. In July 2001 gave oral evidence in public, to the Select Committee, as expert adviser to the group. Advised overseas medical research group about the new (May 2004) Clinical Trials Regulations.
• Regular provider of training (mainly for pharmaceutical companies), throughout Europe and the US, to clinicians conducting clinical trials. Training has included informed consent training in trials involving paediatric and adolescent psychiatric conditions, and end-stage lung cancer.
• August 2002, lectured to American Bar Association annual meeting in Washington DC, on cloning and stem cells, and UK regulation of human genetic technologies.
• September 2003, lecture to tour operators on their duties towards employees overseas.
• October 2003, presented paper & participated in seminar for ILEX, on structured settlements.
• November 2003, chaired GTAC’s public open day, in Edinburgh.
• December 2003, Geneva, presented paper and participated in interactive training day for major international biotechnology company, on legal and bioethical implications of pharmacogenomics.
• February 2004, lecture in Munich on the Clinical Trials Directive, and the role of ethics committees following UK implementation.
• March 2004, lecture at Davies Arnold & Cooper for their insurance clients, on 2003/2004 developments in personal injury law.
• Summer 2004, lecture to tour operators on their duties towards children; and further lecture on Clinical Trials Directive to pharmaceutical representatives in London.
• April 2005, presented & ran 2-week training course in advocacy for British Council & Mauritius Council of Legal Education, in Mauritius.  Also made presentations for the British Council and the Medical Update group of the Mauritius medical council.

 

Affiliations

• Member of the Professional Negligence Bar Association, the Personal Injuries Bar Association, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the American Bar Association

 

Other

• Co-opted member of rent review committee for Lincoln’s Inn, June 2003 to June 2004
• Elected member of Bar Representation Committee, Lincoln’s Inn, April 2004

 

Publications

• Dissertation on Genetic Information & Confidentiality (as part of MA in Medical Law & Ethics, King’s College London)
• Article on Law & Regulation of Human Gene Therapy in Encyclopaedia of Human Genetics (MacMillan in 2003).
• Editor of interactive training package on consent for healthcare workers.
• Approached to write chapter on litigation relating to medical ethics, in forthcoming book on medical law.
• Forthcoming article in Nature Genetics on gene therapy regulation and the settlement of the Gelsinger trial in the USA.

 

Interests

• Interests include: art, fly-fishing, skiing, food & wine, music & opera.