A series of presentations on different aspects of the law concerning Industrial Disease.
APIL Training accredits this event with 4 CPD points.
Ogden 8 Disabled – Maximising & Minimising Damages
Cressida Mawdesley-Thomas will discuss Authorities & academic literature.
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.
In clinical negligence Cressida has experience in a range of different cases, including delayed diagnosis, as well as unnecessary and negligent surgery. This compliments her coronial practice where she is instructed in inquests involving multiple expert jurisdictions. She successfully obtained a regulation 28 prevention of future death report in a case arising out of the police’s treatment of head injuries and questioned experts in pathology, neuropathology, and toxicology.
Cressida is adept at handling complex motor insurance indemnity points. She successfully acted as Junior Counsel for the Second Defendant in Covea Insurance Plc v Greenaway [2021] 3 WLUK 379, considering the meaning of the ‘stolen or unlawfully taken’ exception under s. 151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Greenaway was the first case to practically consider how the domestic court is to interpret retained EU law under section 6(3) of the EU Withdrawal Act 2018. Unled she successfully acted for the Second Defendant in Kelec v (1) Kotwal (2) Nelson Insurance (HHJ Dight CBE, central London County Court, 18 August 2022). The case concerned the limits of a direct action under The European Communities (Rights against Insurers) Regulations 2002 (‘the 2002 Regulations’).
Cressida acts and advises in costs litigation, including detailed assessment hearings, where she is an effective advocate. She co-edits 12 King’s Bench Walk’s Costs blog with Deputy Costs Judge Andrew Roy.
Prior to coming to the Bar Cressida worked at a top American investment bank. She is highly numerate and drafts living and fatal schedules of loss beyond her year of call.
View full profile
Apportionment of divisible diseases: a deeper look
David Green gives a deeper examination of the underlying principles governing apportionment in divisible diseases, with insights from a comparison of benign asbestos disease, hearing loss, and other apportionable losses.
David Green
David is a leading personal injury and employment junior. He is the head of Chambers’ employment team.
"He is really impressive - smart and efficient" (Chambers & Partners (personal injury: industrial disease), 2025).
“David is simply outstanding” (Chambers & Partners (employment), 2025)
David is ranked as a leading junior for both personal injury and employment law, in both Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500.
In personal injury he specialises in occupational and environmental disease claims, including all aspects of asbestos disease; noise-induced hearing loss; and cases involving the armed forces. David is instructed in the Military Deafness Litigation, one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2025.
In employment he appears regularly in the Employment Tribunal and the EAT in a variety of statutory employment cases.
He leads Chambers’ employment team, which is ranked as a leading group in both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.
Cases include:
Minis Childcare Ltd v Hilton-Webb [2024] EAT 108: successful appeal concerning the relationship between indirect discrimination and the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees.
Barry v Ministry of Defence [2023] EWHC 459 (KB): military noise-induced hearing loss case with widespread implications for the quantum of earnings-related damages for disabled claimants.
Abbott v Ministry of Defence [2022] EWHC 1807 (QB): junior counsel for nearly 3,500 claimants for noise-induced hearing loss and/or tinnitus brought against the MOD.
Wokingham Borough Council v Arshad [2022] EWHC 2419 (KB): successful appeal on behalf of a local authority against claim for psychiatric damage, brought by a taxi driver after a mistake in the taxi licensing process.
View full profile
Occupational Asthma and Air Pollution Claims: An Update
Spencer Turner will discuss issues arising out of claims for occupational asthma, focusing on the applicable duties, causation and quantum. Spencer will also provide an update and summary of the principles and essential cases relating to air pollution claims.
Spencer Turner
Spencer specialises in sports disputes, personal injury, clinical negligence, international and travel law, industrial disease, information law, and group litigation. He is regularly instructed in complex and high-profile matters for claimants and defendants, both as led and as sole counsel across all of his core practice areas and before a range of different courts and tribunals. He is a sought-after junior barrister who is often praised for his diligence, excellent client care, strong advocacy and ability to work well in teams.
The legal directories recognise Spencer’s expertise across a broad range of practice areas where he is ranked as a ‘rising star’ or ‘up and coming’ in personal injury, industrial disease, insurance fraud, international personal injury, clinical negligence and sports law. They variously describe him as “great” with “impressive advocacy”, “already having developed a practice that exceeds his seniority”, “absolutely superb”, and “thorough, professional and well-liked by clients”.
Spencer’s sports disputes practice sees him regularly instructed on behalf of sports governing bodies, players/athletes, clubs, coaches and agents across the full range of sports matters. His personal injury, clinical negligence, industrial disease and travel work involves cases of the utmost severity, and he has experience of large-scale litigation, being led, and acting as sole counsel.
View full profile
Causation in Non-Asbestos Related Occupational Cancers
Samuel Cuthbert will consider the test for causation expressed as the ‘doubles the risk’ test. It will provide an exposition of the application of this test in non-asbestos occupational cancers, and also consider how the test has interacted with the Fairchild exception in that context.
Workstations and Musculoskeletal Injuries
Andrew Watson will consider how the rise in home working triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic impacts on employers’ duties, with a particular focus on strain injuries caused by unergonomic workstations.
Limitation in Disease Cases
Helen Waller will discuss common issues that arise in respect of limitation in industrial disease litigation, looking in particular at the vexed issue of the ‘date of knowledge’ and considering the courts’ approach to it.
Helen Waller
Helen is a highly experienced junior with a practice well beyond her year of call. She specialises in personal injury and industrial disease work. Her practice includes catastrophic injury and fatal accidents, both as sole and junior counsel. Helen is regularly instructed on multi-million-pound cases, including complex traumatic brain injuries, catastrophic spinal injuries, and amputations. She works for both claimants and defendants, receiving instructions from leading solicitors and major insurers. She has developed particular expertise in quantum. Helen has been instructed as junior to a number of leading practitioners in the field, including Paul Russell KC, Chris Kennedy KC, William Audland KC, Steven Snowden KC, David Sanderson, Nigel Lewers and John- Paul Swoboda.
Helen regularly appears in trials, CCMCs, approval hearings and applications against opponents of all seniority, including silks. She also has considerable experience of JSMs, both as sole and junior counsel.
The legal directories recognize Helen as “tenacious” and “an absolute bastion of client service”. She is ranked as a “rising star” in the Legal 500 and “up and coming” in Chambers & Partners.
Away from 12KBW Helen enjoys wine tasting, cycling, and travelling.
View full profile
Group Litigation, a panel discussion
Drawing on Michael Rawlinson QC and Ivan Bowley’s experience of the highest-profile disease group litigation John-Paul Swoboda probes them on the different perspectives, tactics and strategies used by Claimants and Defendants in group litigation.
Michael Rawlinson KC
Michael’s principal areas of practice are claims in which exposure to noxious substances are alleged to have led to long-term adverse health effects. He is instructed by victims, exposers and their insurers.
Since such claims often involve the development of cancer many years after exposure, much of his instruction requires the marshaling and presentation of very large quantities of historical documents evidencing or negativing either the fact of exposure or the guilty knowledge relating to it.
He works extensively with lawyers from other common law jurisdictions. Under this general description fall specific areas of litigation: occupational exposure to asbestos/other carcinogens and exposure to manufactured products made available to the public.
In addition he accepts a significant number of instructions each year on behalf of service personnel (or their survivors) where injury arises from service life. He is often instructed to appear at the initial fact-finding Inquest and thereafter within subsequent civil litigation. He is regularly instructed in respect of air crashes (fixed and rotary wing) and other aspects of aviation health and safety. More generally, Michael is instructed by insurers where a wider strategic interest arises out of specific litigation. He considers to be a core part of his work to regularly give talks seeking to signpost where the law of causation appears to be heading. He accepts instructions from ‘both sides’ in catastrophic head and spinal injury.
Notwithstanding the advent of 0% CFA/QOCS claims he is not risk averse where legally interesting or otherwise significant issues arise. Recent work has required him to provide advocacy arising from such diverse topics as the nature of the UK’s level of control over Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, the system of International aviation regulation operating within the UK, the alleged effect of environmental exposure to organophosphates and the historical behaviour of manufacturers of asbestos products within the UK market.
When instructed to lead a team, he always tries to foster a collegiate approach to the litigation because he firmly believes that helps the entire team to provide maximum value to the client.
View full profileIvan Bowley
Ivan Bowley specialises in industrial disease and serious personal injury, acting on behalf of claimants. For many years he has been one of the leading juniors at the Bar for industrial disease litigation.
Ivan also practices at Lincoln House Chambers in Manchester and has regularly been listed in Chambers and Partners Band 1 for personal injury on the Northern Circuit and as a leading practitioner in the Legal 500. He is listed in Band 1 of the Chambers and Partners’ list “Personal Injury: Industrial Disease – All Circuits”.
View full profileJohn-Paul Swoboda KC
John-Paul specialises in Asbestos Litigation, Sports, International litigation, Serious injury, Aviation, Clinical Negligence, Professional Negligence and Inquests. He undertakes high value work appearing in the High Court and Appellate Courts. He enjoys working as part of a team. He won the Legal 500 Personal Injury Junior of the Year Award in 2023. John-Paul was elected joint Deputy Head of Chambers in July 2024.
In relation to asbestos claims, he is instructed by most, if not all, well-regarded claimant firms with an established asbestos team. He is ranked in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. Recent reported cases include:
- Johnstone v Fawcett’s Garage (Newbury) Ltd [2023] EWHC 3010 (KB) (appeal listed in February 2025)
- Keegan v Independent Insurance Co Ltd [2022] EWHC 1992 (QB);
- Brooks v Zurich Insurance Plc [2022] EWHC 1170 (QB);
- Witham v Steve Hill Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1312 (led by Steven Snowden KC);
- Gregory v H J Haynes Ltd [2020] EWHC 911 (Ch);
- Helm v Kenyon & Sons Ltd v Somewatch Ltd [2019] EWHC 1108 (QB);
- Cary v Vauxhall Motors Ltd [2019] EWHC 238 (QB);
- Mark v Universal Coatings and Services Ltd v Barrier Ltd [2018] EWHC 3206 (QB);
- Stacey v Triplex Safety Glass Company Ltd [2017] EWHC 1945 (QB).
His private international law expertise spans jurisdiction (pre and post-Brexit), applicable law (pre and post-Brexit), forum non conveniens cases and service out of the jurisdiction in both injury and non-injury commercial work. John-Paul also has expertise in Aviation, having worked on cases arising from air disasters. He regularly appears in Package Holidays claims, Admiralty matters, Athens and Montreal Convention cases and clinical negligence cases with a foreign element. As a result of his Spanish language skills, John-Paul is often instructed in Spanish cases and has appeared as an expert in English law in the Spanish Courts. Recent reported cases include: Chouza v Martins & Ors [2021] EWHC 1669 (QB) (Spanish law); Haggerty-Garton v ICI [2021] EWHC 2924 (QB) (Scots law); Maddison v TUI [2023] EWHC (to be heard by the Court of Appeal). John-Paul is ranked in the Legal 500 for Travel Law including Jurisdictional issues.
John-Paul’s clinical negligence work is high value and he receives instructions from most ranked firms. He is ranked in the Legal 500 for his clinical negligence work. He enjoys the medical and scientific aspects of such litigation and works closely with his instructing solicitors and experts. He has significant experience of cases involving birth injury, amputation, unnecessary and negligent surgery, delayed diagnosis, fatal cases, disclosure of risk and the negligent administration of clinical drugs.
John-Paul is listed in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners for his more general personal injury work which includes EL, PL and RTA cases. Recent reported cases include Irani v Duchon [2019] EWCA Civ 1846.
John-Paul undertakes professional negligence work, mainly in respect of actions arising from personal injury claims. He successfully represented the Claimant in the Court of Appeal in Witcomb v Keith Park Solicitors [2023] PNLR 20.
He practices Sports Law where he is able to bring his extensive Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence knowledge to bear on such matters. However, his practice is not restricted to injury related work; he accepts non-injury Sports work of a contractual or regulatory nature. He has received instructions relating to those in the English Premier League.
John-Paul acts for bereaved families, and occasionally acts for other interested parties, at Inquests. John-Paul has particular interest and expertise in Article 2 ECHR enhanced Inquests. He has acted in high profile Inquests such as the Inquest touching the death of Toni Speck (a death in police custody); the Inquest touching the death of Graham Coker (a death following oesophageal cancer surgery where their department was subsequently shut down); the Inquest touching the death of Jodie White-Charles where a young mother died of sickle cell complications as a result of Trust failures.
View full profile