Caroline Harrison KC

Caroline Harrison KC specialises in clinical negligence and medical law (especially concerning research & genetics; and including data protection and issues regarding medical records); complex personal injury litigation; related professional indemnity insurance; and health and safety claims.

Her principal work involves neo-natal and adult brain damage; spinal injury; death; psychiatric injury; chronic pain and a broad range of diagnostic and treatment errors in primary and tertiary care. Her professional indemnity work usually relates to under-settlement or mismanagement of medical claims. The majority of Caroline’s work involves very complex medical or legal issues.

Caroline is adept at getting the best out of clients and experts in conference, and is known for her empathetic approach and commitment to her clients. She is an experienced and talented advocate and negotiator, who is equally at home whether leading from the front, or performing her role in a team. Caroline acts for both claimants and defendants in all areas of her work.

Expertise

In addition to her brain damage, stroke and spinal injury work, Caroline’s recent cases have included the following medical issues: microbiological causation in septic arthritis; Wegener’s Granulomatosis (a rare auto-immune disease with rarer cardiac involvement resulting in premature death); autoimmune disease causing vascular insufficiency and amputation; acute liver failure leading to transplant; allergic drug reactions; drug-management of in chronic renal failure; short-term action of heparin in context of symptomatic pulmonary embolus; near-fatal bacterial lung infection; psychiatrically mediated blindness; psychiatric causation in borderline personality disorder; delayed diagnosis of various cancer types.

Caroline specialises in catastrophic injuries or cases raising particularly difficult causation or quantum issues. Her recent work has included supervening psychiatric disability; orthopaedic causation in successive traumas; severe multiple injury compensation; Blamire or multiplier-multiplicand approach to lost earnings; chronic headaches and chronic pain.

Caroline’s areas of special interest are complex medical issues and medical research, especially involving genetics and mental health; and difficult legal problems such as causation. Caroline was a member (and later co-chair) of the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee for ten years, and a Human Genetics Commissioner for eight years until the Commission was wound up. She was involved in the regulation of general medical research at both local and national level for many years. As an HGC Commissioner, she chaired the working group on genetic discrimination and was heavily involved in the Commission’s work on insurance-related issues. She was personally invited to give expert evidence on these matters to the House of Lords Science & Technology Committee. Her evidence was specifically referred to in the Committee’s final report. Caroline’s interest in the frontiers of medical knowledge and research are of particular value in life and health policy claims.

Caroline has very extensive advocacy experience in Inquests, trials and appeals (see selected cases below). She is a Grade A advocacy trainer for Lincoln’s Inn, and is regularly invited to teach at the South Eastern Circuit Advanced Advocacy course at Keble College, Oxford. She is a Bencher at Lincoln’s Inn, and elected vice-chair of the PNBA executive committee.

Caroline has recently led the defence teams in two permanent health claims with a combined value around £4m. At the trial of the first matter, the claimant discontinued immediately after being cross-examined for two days. The case raised issues of deliberate exaggeration and the reliability of psychiatric evidence supporting the claim. The second case is continuing, and the defence is that the claim is fraudulent. Other issues include construction of a group PHI policy, and the regulation of exclusion clauses.

Notable Life & Health cases

Miley v Aviva (QBD London, April 2017)

£2.5m PHI claim.

Wilsher v Friends Life (Unreported. QBD London, November 2013)

£1.75m – PHI claim. Discontinued at trial after 2 days of evidence.

Williams v Bermuda Hospital Board [2016] UKPC

Material contribution causation in medical claims.

EG & JG v Somerset CMHT[2016] EWHC (QBD Bristol, Jan 2016)

Adolescent suicide in the context of eating disorder. Issues of causation.

Lyons v Chief Constable of Kent Police[2012] EWHC 364 QB

Causation in supervening psychiatric disability.

Re Pearce [3-days, Nov 2011, Essex CC]

Allergic reaction to penicillin; system neglect in A&E triage & allergy warning.

Re Flanaghan [12-days, Worcester CC, Feb 2011]

Fatal impact with tramcar, issues included possible homicide by a serving police officer, possible suicide, accident, exact timing and causation of injuries.

Reid v Ministry of Defence & ors [settled Mar 2009]

Novel issue of conflicting standards of care between UK-trained GPs and German hospital clinicians in near-fatal lung injury.

Re Douglas [10-days, Mar 2008, Plymouth CC]

Death of naval officer from diabetic acidosis.

Whitehead v S & Hibbert, Pownall & Newton [2008] All ER(D)80, EWCA Civ.285

Solicitor’s negligence case arising from failed wrongful birth claim. Novel points included relevance of events after date of notional trial & duties owed to fathers.

Williams v Williams & Ors.[unrep. 2006 & 2007 Turks & Caicos Islands Supreme Court & Caribbean Court of Appeal respectively]

RTA causing paraplegia. Construction of terms in motor insurance policy with pan-Caribbean ramifications.

Berry v Calderdale HA [1998] Lloyds L.R. (Med) P179 CA

Limitation & scope of lawyer’s duties.

Caroline’s work in this area principally relates to mis-managed or under-settled medical claims. Her recent cases have covered the following contexts: an employer’s liability claim resulting in below-the-knee amputation; wrongful birth – multiple complex issues of scope of duty of care, effect of post-notional trial suicide of mother, whether hospital could owe duty to father; spinal injury and neuro-radiology; extreme case of chronic pain; brain damage claims for children.

Caroline has extensive experience of medical and other inquests, including with juries.

Notable Inquests cases

Re Flanaghan [12-days, Worcester CC, Feb 2011]

Fatal impact with tramcar, issues included possible homicide, possible suicide, accident, exact timing & causation of injuries, braking capacity of tramcar.

Re Pearce [3-days, Nov 2011, Essex CC]

Allergic reaction to penicillin; system neglect in A&E triage & allergy warning.

Re Peacock [July 2011, Hatfield CC]

Pulmonary embolus secondary to leg fracture – failure to apply standard protocol for anticoagulant management.

Re El-Shaboury [June 2011, West London CC]

Drug regime in chronic renal failure.

Re Douglas [10-days, Mar 2008, Plymouth CC]

Death of naval officer from diabetic acidosis several days after consulting MO.

Significant Cases

Lyons v Chief Constable of Kent Police [2012] EWHC 364 QB

Causation in supervening psychiatric disability, & successive orthopaedic injuries.

Hills v Ulliott [unrep. Brighton County Court, Jan 2012]

General damages for severe multiple injuries; multiplier-multiplicand cf Blamire approach to future loss and full Ogden 6 approach to residual earning capacity.

Jackson v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals [settled, Feb 2012]

Breach and causation in context of delayed diagnosis and then sub-optimal management of Wegener’s Granulomatosis causing death.

Faller v South London Healthcare [unrep., QBD Oct 2011]

Approval of Fatal Accidents Act settlement where claim based on 3-hour window of opportunity for heparin to be effective in preventing fatal pulmonary embolus.

KRR v Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust [QBD approval Sept 11]

Cerebral palsy, c£12m.

Coupland v Dr Lal [settled, July 2011]

Stroke rendering 56 year-old claimant wheelchair-dependent. Short life expectancy & lack of security for PPO gave rise to argument for full capital settlement of accommodation claim and novel arguments under Damages Act to de-apply 2.5% discount rate or for alternative securitisation.

Privacy Policy

Caroline Harrison KC Privacy Policy

My contact details:

ICO Reg No: Z3590302
Address: 2 Temple Gardens, London, EC4Y 9AY
Email: clerks@2tg.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7822 1200

The type of personal information I collect

To enable me to provide you with legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations and mediations, I currently collect and process the following personal information:

Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name, date of birth and contact details), bank and financial details, your background and circumstance and education.

Other personal data relevant to, or included in instructions to provide legal services, including data specific to the instructions in question and data included in documents provided to me as part of instructions or otherwise.

Such information may include personal information relating to family members, associates, agents, employees, shareholders or beneficial owners. By providing such personal information to me, you automatically confirm that you are authorised to do so. It is not reasonably practicable for me to provide the information set out in this Privacy Notice to those individuals. Accordingly, where appropriate, you are responsible for providing this information to any such individuals.

Where necessary, I may also need to process Special Category data about you including

racial or ethnic origin;
personal data revealing political opinions;
personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs;
personal data revealing trade union membership;
genetic data;
biometric data (where used for identification purposes);
data concerning health;
data concerning a person’s sex life; and
data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.

How I get the personal information and why I have it

Most of the personal information that I process is provided to me directly by you or via the professional you have instructed such as a solicitor or consultant or other professional adviser who instructs me on your behalf to provide legal services.

I use the information that you have given me in order to

provide legal services to you, my client, including the provision of legal advice and
representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations
keep accounting records and carry out office administration
take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien
respond to potential complaints or make complaints
check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases
promote and market my services
carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks
train other barristers and pupils, and when providing work-shadowing opportunities
publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals as required or permitted by law.

I may share this information with

other professional advisers such as other legal professionals and consultant experts and other witnesses
courts and tribunals
the staff in my Chambers
prosecution authorities
pupils and mini pupils
lay clients
family and associates of the person whose personal information I am processing
in the event of complaints, the Head of Chambers, other individuals nominated by Chambers who deal with complaints, the Bar Standards Board, and the Legal Ombudsman
other regulatory authorities
current, past or prospective employers
education and examining bodies
business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies, e.g. the Bar Council
professional indemnity insurers or brokers
the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals
If you have engaged other professional advisers to instruct me on your behalf on the matters on which I am providing legal services to you, I shall assume that I may disclose your personal information to them unless you tell me otherwise.
I may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without my consent or yours, which includes privileged information.
I may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where, acting in good faith, I consider it required and permitted by law.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful basis I rely on for processing this information is

The processing is necessary for a contract I have with you, or because you have asked me to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting me.
It may be necessary for me to share your personal data to comply with legal obligations to, for example, HMRC.

How I store your personal information

Your information is securely stored in Chambers or at my home. I use reasonable technical and organisational security measures such as password protection and encryption of computer generated data and keeping paper data secure to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or destroyed, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.

In this connection, Chambers, as data processor, acting on my behalf, will only process your personal data on my instructions and is subject to a duty of confidentiality.

The data will be held in line with any regulatory obligations and generally be kept for 6 years but may be 12 years, or longer where, for example, the case includes information relating to a minor, from the date of completion of instructions. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further period.

All data will be securely deleted or securely shredded after this time without reference to you. I will store some of your information which I need to carry out conflict checks for the rest of my career. However, this is likely to be limited only to your name and contact details and the name of the case. It will not include any information that is “sensitive information” for GDPR purposes.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access – You have the right to ask me for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask me to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask me to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask me to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask me to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that I transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, I have one month to respond to you. Please contact me at 2 Temple Gardens, London, EC4Y 9AY or clerks@2tg.co.uk if you wish to make a request.

Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

This privacy notice is of general application and as such it is not possible to state whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the EEA. If I do transfer your personal data I will use safeguards to ensure the data is fully protected as required by the UK Data Protection Regulations.

Changes to my Privacy Policy

From time to time, I may need to make chances to my privacy policy. If so, the changes will appear on my entry on the 2TG website.

Marketing

As above, I may share your personal data with Chambers who may in turn use that data to notify you by email, or post about an invitation to seminars and similar events. You may opt out of receiving any such marketing communications at any time by using the “unsubscribe” link in any emails. In relation to how Chambers uses such data, please see Chambers’ privacy policy. Other than sharing personal data with Chambers as described above, I will not share your information with any other third party for marketing purposes.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about my use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to me or to my Senior Clerk, Lee Tyler at 2 Temple Gardens, London, EC4Y 9AY or clerks@2tg.co.uk. You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk

“Ruthlessly efficient at navigating complex and technically challenging claims."
Chambers UK 2025

“… has a beautiful balance of sharp intellect, empathy and impressive communication skills.”
Legal 500 2025

"An expert in niche areas of medical law."
Chambers UK 2024

"Really empathetic with the clients and able to narrate their story in a clear and persuasive way."
Legal 500 2024

"Her field of clinical negligence is first-class."
Legal 500 2023

"She is fabulous on both liability and quantum and superb when it comes to scientific evidence."
Chambers UK 2023

"Extremely bright, clever and meticulous in her work."
Chambers UK 2022

"Intelligent and incisive."
Chambers UK 2022

"She is fabulous on both liability and quantum and superb when it comes to scientific evidence. She also has incredible interpersonal skills."
Chambers UK 2022

Gene Therapy Advisory Committee Member (1999-2009, Co-chair after 2004)
Human Genetics Commissioner (2004-2012)
National Research Ethics Expert Advisory Panel Member

Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn

Postgraduate Diploma in Law, King’s College, London
Bar Finals, Council of Legal Education, London
MA Medical Law & Ethics, City University, London
MA Philosophy & Theology, Regent’s Park College, Oxford University

PNBA (Co-opted member of the Executive Committee)

“Caroline is exceptionally talented, forensically and interpersonally. She is ruthlessly efficient at navigating complex and technically challenging claims.” “Caroline is a delight to work with. She is thorough and identified the key issues when instructed at short notice in a high-value claim.” “Caroline is super experienced and knows her stuff. She is very sensible.”
Chambers UK 2025

“Caroline has a beautiful balance of sharp intellect, empathy and impressive communication skills.”
Legal 500 2025

“Caroline is trusted to navigate a route to resolution even with the most difficult clinical negligence claims. She provides careful advice in collaboration with instructing solicitors and professional healthcare clients. She confidently demonstrates to clients that they are in good hands.” “An expert in niche areas of medical law.”
Chambers UK 2024

“Really empathetic with the clients and able to narrate their story in a clear and persuasive way. Able to take a holistic view of the bigger picture, whilst still being able to pick up on minute potential inconsistencies.”
Legal 500 2024

“She demonstrates genuine empathy.” “Caroline combines an ability to get to grips with the scientific aspects of the evidence with dealing with nervous factual witnesses for whom court is a terrifying prospect.”
Chambers UK 2023

Caroline has a wonderful way with clients, colleagues and judges. People love working with her. Caroline is passionate about her cases and her knowledge of her field of clinical negligence is first-class.
Legal 500 2023

“She is fabulous on both liability and quantum and superb when it comes to scientific evidence. She also has incredible interpersonal skills.” “Extremely bright, clever and meticulous in her work.” “Caroline is very experienced and very well regarded in the field.”
Chambers UK 2022

“She’s absolutely brilliant at handling difficult and emotionally charged cases. She has tremendous people skills and it goes without saying that she’s also a terrific lawyer.” “Intelligent and incisive.”
Chambers UK 2021

“A hugely reassuring presence both in court and at the negotiating table.”
Legal 500 2021

“Her schedules are of the highest quality – they are detailed and demonstrate a great depth of understanding of the issues.” “She is very easy to instruct, works well in a team and is very good at what she does.”
Chambers UK 2020

“Approachable and a good negotiator.”
Legal 500 2020

“Bright and incredibly client focused.” “Very approachable and helpful.”
Chambers UK 2019

“Absolutely superb. She considers issues very thoroughly.” “Excellent on paper and on her feet.”
Chambers UK 2018

“She is excellent on her feet and not afraid to stand her ground and take a risk based on her impeccable judgement.”
“She’s extremely good at getting the best out of everybody, particularly in conference.”
Chambers UK 2017

“She is incredibly sharp and incisive with unparalleled delicacy.”
Legal 500 2017

“She is incredibly personable and technically brilliant.” “She provides good written advice and is good on her feet.”
Chambers UK 2016

“She cuts to the heart of the matter without any difficulty.”
Legal 500 2016

“Caroline is intelligent, committed and very user-friendly. She is an excellent advocate and totally dedicated to her work and to her clients.”
Chambers UK 2015

“She is clever and committed, knows the law and has excellent client skills.”
Legal 500 2015

“intelligent and insightful”
“detailed knowledge of complex medical and legal issues”
Chambers UK 2013

“a user-friendly junior who provides high quality advice”
“comprehensive and high quality advice”
Chambers UK 2012

“a substantial track record”
“superb intellectual and personal qualities”
“meticulous paperwork”
Legal 500 2011

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