Military Claims Seminar, National Army Museum

Thomas Banks

Michael Rawlinson KC

Cressida Mawdesley-Thomas

Cressida specialises in all aspects of Personal Injury law. She has a thorough and collaborative approach and is recognised by The Legal 500 as a Rising Star who “has already amassed an extremely impressive caseload, far beyond that of many barristers much more senior”.

In disease litigation Cressida acts for Claimants suffering from mesothelioma, lung cancer, diffuse pleural thickening and asbestosis. She is also experienced in VWF/ HAVS claims. She regularly appears in the Masters’ corridor and is well versed in limitation arguments and complex issues of causation. As second junior in Mather v MOD she helped obtain a settlement of over £3 million for a former RAF painter & finisher who developed MS following exposure to organic solvents in breach of the COSHH Regulations.

Cressida has particular interest in equine claims brought under The Animals Act 1971.  She is currently junior counsel in a high value, complex CRPS claim following a military riding accident. Cressida is adept at drafting schedules of loss in cases involving the loss of a military career.

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.

Nina specialises in Armed Forces claims. She has particular experience of acting for service personnel in claims arising out of sexual and physical assault; harassment; non-freezing cold injuries; and PTSD. She is highly regarded by solicitors specialising in military claims and was invited by the APIL panel to speak at its annual military seminar last year.

Examples of her work include:
• Claims brought by three female soldiers who allege that they were subjected by their chain of command to a campaign of sexual assaults and harassment during service
• Claims brought under the HRA 1998 and in Afghan law by the family of a boy who was shot and killed in Kandahar City by British military personnel following the US invasion of Afghanistan. The boy’s family brought claims for psychiatric injury under Afghan law and the Human Rights Act 1998. The claims gave rise to complex issues concerning whether an actionable tort had occurred in Afghan law; the MoD’s entitlement to rely upon the doctrine of Crown Act of State to avoid liability under foreign tort law; what heads of loss were recoverable in Afghan law; the application of the HRA 1998 outside the UK’s territorial boundaries; whether it would be equitable to allow the HRA 1998 claim to proceed outside the primary limitation period; and whether the death of the boy constituted unlawful killing and was adequately investigated by the State
• 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. The claims succeeded before Leggatt J who gave a groundbreaking judgment on the circumstances in which a foreign limitation period will be disapplied under the Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984, and whether damages for non-pecuniary loss assessed under English law should be reduced to reflect the lower cost of living in a foreign jurisdiction. The judgment has since been much cited by the English courts. Iraqis win damages for ‘ill-treatment’ by British soldiers – BBC News
• A group claim arising out of the alleged failure of the MoD to identify and treat psychiatric injuries sustained by military personnel in combat
• A large group action against MoD for non-freezing cold injuries
• A claim brought by a British naval officer who was sexually assaulted by a senior officer in Bahrain
• A claim brought by a soldier who was harassed and assaulted by his peers during initiation ceremonies
• A claim brought by a soldier for NFCI, PTSD and NIHL leading to loss of military career

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/

Megan Griffiths

David Green

David White

David’s principal areas of practice are personal injury, clinical negligence, insurance/indemnity disputes and costs law. He has been listed as a leading junior in Personal Injury work in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 for many years. David acts for claimants and defendants and is regularly instructed to represent clients both at court and at Joint Settlement Meetings. David is known as a “robust but realistic” advocate and negotiator, with excellent client care skills.

David has a particular expertise in military PI claims and regularly acts for members of the Armed Forces. He has a particular expertise in claims arising from Non-Freezing Cold Injury (NFCI), and claims for psychiatric injury. David is familiar with the complexities of the military loss of earnings/loss of military pension claims.

In the Personal Injury field David is regularly instructed in RTA, EL, PL, product liability and holiday claims. David has particular expertise in serious injury cases including amputation, head injury, stress/CRPS and spinal injury. David also has a particular interest in all disease cases (asbestos, work related upper limb disorder/RSI, and HAVS) and cases with an international flavour that raise issues as to jurisdiction or applicable law.

David sits on the Editorial Board of Kemp & Kemp: Law Practice and Procedure, and he edits the chapters on Provisional Damages, Interim Payments and MIB Claims.

James Pickering

Andrew Roy KC