Vicarious Liability after BXB

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:

• 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.

Dr. Achas Burin

Achas enjoys a varied practice in 12KBW’s core areas. She is keen to tackle research on complex points, including procedural ones and those involving a crossover between different spheres of law. She welcomes instructions in matters that cross the boundary between tort and public law. She is currently instructed in the Public Inquiry into Undercover Policing and the Lampard Inquiry into mental health provision in Essex. She previously had a longstanding involvement in the Infected Blood Inquiry and the Kenya Emergency Group Litigation.

She acted as a junior in Coventry v Lawrence (No. 3) [2015] UKSC 50, the landmark Supreme Court case concerning whether the costs regime under the Access to Justice Act 1999 complied with human rights law.

She was also instructed in X v Kuoni Travel [2019] C-578/19, both in the Supreme Court and before the Court of Justice of the European Union, alongside William Audland KC and Nina Ross.

Achas is a Lecturer in Law at Oxford Brookes University, where she teaches tort law and medical law. She is also a Board member for a non-profit bike workshop, the Broken Spoke Bicycle Co-operative.

Megan Griffiths

Megan specialises in claims for psychiatric injury arising from abuse, personal injury more widely and clinical negligence. She is happy to consider instructions on a CFA or publicly funded basis where appropriate.

Megan’s abuse practice sees her regularly advising on limitation, liability, causation and quantum in six figure claims for psychiatric injuries and consequential losses. She appreciates the sensitivities involved in this work and always reflects that in her approach. In recent months she has worked on claims arising from abuse within the cadets, healthcare settings, the workplace and at home. She takes instructions in claims involving both adult and child survivors and both institution and abuser-in-person defendants.

Megan’s wider personal injury practice includes claims arising from road traffic accidents, highways claims, public liability claims and employer’s liability claims. Her busy court practice, which sees her in court most weeks, informs her approach to her written and advisory work in this area including on allegations of fraud where appropriate. She also advises on tactical and procedural issues including offers and costs. She recently completed a short secondment with a defendant insurer city law firm which included work on written HSE submissions.

In her clinical negligence practice Megan works on a wide variety of cases. Recent subjects include ophthalmic treatment, negligent management of medication leading to hospitalisation and delayed diagnoses. She is particularly keen to build her practice in women’s health and apply her experience in traumatic and sensitive cases to this area.

Megan is also instructed to assist leading counsel in high value claims and group actions. She has recently assisted in an amputation and brain injury claim which settled for millions and a group action arising from gender-based discrimination sexual harassment in the workplace, contrary to workers’ human rights.

She has been praised by her instructing solicitors for her communicative and thorough approach to case preparation in both her court work and paper practice.

Megan is a member of the Government’s Junior Juniors Scheme and of the Metropolitan Police Panel of Counsel. She regularly contributes to chambers’ various blogs and has been published by AvMA, Law in Sport and LexisPSL.

Before joining chambers Megan worked as a paralegal in a London law firm’s clinical negligence department. She therefore appreciates the importance of working closely with solicitors to achieve the best results for commercial and lay clients.