Aliyah Akram

Aliyah is known for her cutting-edge work in some of the more complex areas of personal injury law, including product liability and international personal injury.

She regularly acts in claims involving brain injuries. She has acted for claimants who have suffered traumatic brain injury in road traffic and cycling accidents. She is currently instructed in a claim on behalf of a girl who nearly drowned in a swimming pool while on holiday in Spain and suffered a catastrophic brain injury.

Aliyah has particular expertise in fatal accident claims. She has real experience of how the Courts deal with these cases having appeared in a number of significant High Court cases. She has recently acted for the families of a teenager involved in a go-karting accident and a mother killed in a hit and run accident.

She has worked on claims involving harmful environmental exposures, including ‘sick building syndrome’ case, a condition developed as a result of living in a defective new build home and claims involving mould and asthma.

Aliyah has appeared in the Court of Appeal and in numerous High Court trials for mesothelioma claimants. She is the junior of choice for ground-breaking cases, including product liability claims against a major asbestos manufacturer and a test case which seeks to redefine public liability insurance for asbestos claims. She has significant expertise in cases involving issues surrounding immunotherapy costs.

Her industrial disease practice crosses over with her international law expertise in a number of claims brought by South African claimants exposed to asbestos from mining operations.

She also represents serving and former military personnel in claims arising from non-freezing cold injuries and noise-induced hearing loss.

Aliyah is particularly well known for her work on group litigation, cutting across all her key practice areas. She is renowned for strategic thinking and her tactical acumen. As a result, she is a much sought after junior in high profile group litigation and she has been involved in some of the largest group actions ever brought in the UK.

She is currently instructed in multiple group actions brought by military personnel against the Ministry of Defence. She is instructed by leading industrial disease solicitors in ongoing product liability test cases pursued against a major asbestos manufacturer and a number of claims brought by South African claimants exposed to asbestos from mining operations.

She has been instructed in a number of cross-border group claims, including in Vilca & Ors v Xstrata Plc & Xstrata Tintaya in which she dealt with quantum issues for Peruvian environmental protestors who had been attacked and tortured as a result of their involvement in a demonstration and The Bodo Community v The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria where she assisted with preparation for a mediation in a claim brought by a fishing community for extensive environmental damage caused by an oil spill in the Niger Delta.

Aliyah is frequently instructed in high-value cross-border personal injury cases. These cases frequently involve serious personal injury and private international law and so combine some of the key elements of Aliyah’s practice. Her advice is often sought in difficult questions concerning jurisdiction or the conflict of laws. She regularly acts in aviation and maritime claims too.

Her practice is wide ranging and has included acting on behalf of security personnel injured in the course of their work in Syria and Iraq, plastic surgery patients injured as a result of sub-standard care and for holiday makers involved accidents across Europe and from as far afield as Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Caribbean.

Her international litigation experience includes cross-border group claims, such as Vilca & Ors v Xstrata Plc & Xstrata Tintaya in which she dealt with quantum issues for Peruvian environmental protestors who had been attacked and tortured as a result of their involvement in a demonstration and The Bodo Community v The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria where she assisted with preparation for a mediation in a claim brought by a fishing community for extensive environmental damage caused by an oil spill in the Niger Delta. She is currently instructed in a number of claims brought by South African claimants exposed to asbestos from mining operations.

Aliyah is regularly instructed by serving and former soldiers. She is currently instructed in a number of group actions brought by military personnel against the Ministry of Defence, including for claims arising from asbestos exposure, non-freezing cold injuries and noise-induced hearing loss.

Aliyah is experienced in acting in the Coroner’s Court. Her work complements her specialism in fatal accident claims.

Aliyah has a good strategic brain. She is good at distilling what can be very complex facts to simple questions and getting right answers. – Chambers & Partners 2024

She is a star of the future and is detailed and prepared. – Chambers & Partners 2024

Her written and oral advisory work is very good. She has deep knowledge of the applicable legal framework, liability and quantum. – Chambers & Partners 2024

Aliyah has an excellent client manner and deals with all matters efficiently. – Chambers & Partners 2024

Aliyah is an excellent counsel who is extremely good at getting to the heart of the issues surrounding a claim. – Chambers & Partners 2024

Aliyah provides clear, firm views that are well tested. She approaches her cases with thoroughness and tenacity. – Chambers & Partners 2024

Aliyah is cerebral and approachable. – Legal 500, 2024

Approachable and responsive, Aliyah gives confident and thorough advice. – Legal 500, 2023

She is really bright, responsive and excellent both with clients and on her feet in court. – Chambers & Partners, 2022

She has a very high knowledge base in respect of asbestos claims and is gimlet-eyed over detail to be put into the schedule of loss. – Legal 500, 2022

She is very thorough and down to earth with clients, great on her feet and unfazed when opposite QCs. – Chambers & Partners, 2021

Bar Professional Training Course, Kaplan Law School

LLM in European Law, Newnham College, University of Cambridge

MA, Law, Newnham College, University of Cambridge

Contributor: Asbestos: Law & Litigation, Sweet & Maxwell, 2^nd edition, 2022 (Chapters: Causation, Asbestos: history and use, Product liability)

Advisory Board member: Gendered Experiences of Mesothelioma Study (2020)

PIBA

APIL

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