Lauren Sutherland KC

Lauren Sutherland called to the bar in 1996 and prior to that was a Solicitor in private practice specialising in Personal Injury and Medical Negligence work. As a Solicitor she worked for both claimants and defending claims. Since calling to the Bar she has specialised in Clinical and Professional Negligence, Fatal Accident Inquiries, Personal Injury and Human Rights issues in Medical Law.

EXPERIENCE

Lauren Sutherland has advocacy experience gained over 20 years both as a Solicitor in private practice and at the Bar. She has considerable experience in catastrophic injury cases and has a particular interest and expertise in cerebral palsy and brain injury cases. She has been ranked in Chambers UK and the Legal 500. She has consistently been ranked band 1 for Clinical Negligence. Chambers UK have said “She has an apparently inexhaustible energy to prepare and argue some of the most ground-breaking cases”, “A highly regarded and experienced advocate recognised for her personal injury and medical negligence experience” and “She is absolutely superb, and she fights a client’s corner pretty fiercely… hugely knowledgeable and really applies herself”. In the 2016 edition she is described as “Deeply knowledgeable in medical negligence matters. I don’t think you could find a more committed advocate to medical negligence cases.” “She’s a real leader in this field; the most specialised claimant clinical negligence advocate in Scotland”.

Lauren has been involved in a number of high profile Fatal Accident Inquiries, the Nimrod litigation and is currently involved in the Product litigation involving the use of TVT and mesh in gynaecological procedures. She was appointed by the Scottish Government as junior counsel to the Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry. The Inquiry had a wide remit to review deaths from C difficile infection. Her involvement required extensive knowledge of care of the elderly, nursing and medical practice, and infection control in hospital. She was invited to participate in the review panel Chaired by Professor S McLean on the issue of introduction of no fault compensation in Scotland. She was junior counsel in the landmark case on Consent to medical treatment in the UK Supreme Court Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11.

She has written and lectured extensively in the area of personal injury and medical negligence. She is the contributing editor of Green’s Reparation Bulletin on Medical Law and wrote the chapter on Medical Law and Human Rights in Greens Human Rights Loosleaf. She has been the Secretary of the Professional Negligence Bar Group for many years.