IWD Breakfast: Deconstructing patriarchy in law and psychiatry

Nina Ross

Nina is ranked as a leading junior in personal injury in the current editions of Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, which note that Nina is “crystal-clear in her thinking and analysis” (Legal 500) and has “a commanding presence when on her feet” (Chambers and Partners).

Nina specialises in claims arising out of sexual and physical assaults; harassment claims; military claims; international and group litigation; and human rights aspects of personal injury law. She has been instructed in high-profile litigation in these fields, including in:

• Ella Janneh v Michael Lousada [2024] EWHC 1464 (KB): claim for sexual assault brought against therapist.
• Sayn-Wittgenstein v Juan Carlos 1 [2023] EWHC 2478 (KB) (led by Jonathan Caplan KC and Andrew Green KC): claim for harassment brought against the former King of Spain.
• X v Kuoni [2021] UKSC 34 (led by William Audland KC): a claim brought under the 1992 Package Travel Regulations for sexual assaults committed by a hotel employee in Sri Lanka, which was referred by the Supreme Court to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on a point of European law.
• Alseran & Others v Ministry of Defence [2017] EWHC 3289 (QB) [2018] 3 W.L.R. 95 (led by Richard Hermer KC and Harry Steinberg KC): claims against the MoD brought by Iraqi civilians who allege that they were assaulted and unlawfully detained by UK military personnel during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Given her areas of specialism, Nina has particular experience of claims for psychiatric injury and the complex issues of causation that arise.

She is an authority on limitation periods and is co-author of Personal Injury Limitation Law, Bloomsbury (2020) which has received excellent reviews: https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/personal-injury-limitation-law-9781526508607/

Before coming to the Bar, Nina worked on torture and abuse cases in the international and group claims department of Leigh Day & Co Solicitors; at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands; as well as at JUSTICE; Liberty; and the Legal Resources Centre in Durban, South Africa.

Aliyah Akram

Aliyah Akram is acknowledged as a leading junior in personal injury and industrial disease litigation. She is renowned for her expertise and experience in group litigation in all of the core areas in which she practices. Many of her cases have an international aspect and give rise to both jurisdictional issues and conflicts of laws.

Aliyah is a robust and persuasive trial advocate. She prides herself on working closely as a team with instructing solicitors, not just in group litigation, but in every case in which she is involved. Her focus is always on maximising the client’s prospects of success. She is able to cut through the background noise and gets straight to the issues.

She is a contributing author of Asbestos: Law & Litigation (Sweet & Maxwell, 2^nd edition, 2022).

She is ranked by the legal directories as a leading junior in Personal Injury, Industrial Disease and Travel: International Personal Injury.

Dr Nikki de Taranto

Dr Nikki de Taranto is an NHS consultant forensic psychiatrist with more than twenty-five years’ experience of medico-legal work in the criminal and civil courts as well as fitness to practise hearings and employment tribunals.

Her specialist areas of expertise include medical and clinical negligence, compensation for abuse and neglect including sexual abuse, personal injury, capacity assessments and nervous shock/secondary victim cases.

Her instructions are approximately one third for Claimants, one third for Defendants and one third joint instructions.

Siobhan Crawford

Siobhán is a Senior Associate solicitor in the Abuse team at Bolt Burdon Kemp.

Siobhán has undertaken claims against various institutions such as religious institutions, private and state schools and claims against masseurs. She has a particular interest in claims against the police.  Siobhán has also been recognised as being “highly committed, with a strong sense of justice” in the 2015/16 Legal 500. In October 2022 Siobhán was appointed as a deputy district judge.

Siobhán has been part of various charities such as being the Chair of the Board of Trustees of 28 Too Many until October 2017, a UK based anti female genital mutilation (FGM) charity working to end FGM across Africa and the diaspora and as a trustee for South London Rape Crisis.