Shoosmiths, the private client arm of national law firm Shoosmiths, has expanded and considerably enhanced its medical negligence team in Birmingham and nationally with the hire of three very experienced medical negligence specialists from Thompsons solicitors.
Kashmir Uppal joins as a partner, Michael Burrell as a senior associate and Sharon Banga as an associate. All three have worked closely as a team in the past. Kashmir was also a partner at Thompsons where she jointly headed up the national clinical negligence team and ran the local Birmingham-based team.
Kashmir Uppal
Kashmir has been a member of the Law Society Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel since 2004 and is recognised for her experience, application and commitment by influential legal directories such as Chambers and the Legal 500, who describe her as ‘handling pressure effortlessly’.
In addition to running multi-million claims for children who have suffered catastrophic brain injury at birth, and high value amputation and fatality cases, Kashmir has considerable expertise in dealing with large party or group actions and has taken a lead role in the high profile case of disgraced breast surgeon, Ian Paterson. The injuries caused to almost 550 women by Ian Paterson’s wrongful and unnecessary surgeries and misdiagnoses were compounded by hospital management’s consistent failure to act.
Kashmir was instrumental in securing an agreed procedure for taking cases forward and is recognised as the Lead Solicitor having worked with claimants seeking redress and justice since 2010. Kashmir is also recognised for campaigning to improve patient protection in the private healthcare sector, highlighting the inadequacies of private medical insurance that put private patients at greater risk than NHS patients if things go wrong.
Michael Burrell
Alongside Kashmir, Michael too has been involved in recovering compensation for the patients of Ian Paterson. He has litigated a large number of high value cases and has been successful at trial at the High Court. His expertise is predominately in amputation claims, fatal injuries, and spinal damage and birth injuries.
Earlier this year Michael was responsible for recovering in excess of £1m compensation for a client left paralysed following a delay in the diagnosis of a spinal abscess at Warwick Hospital. Despite an emergency operation, the delayed MRI scan meant it was too late to prevent paraplegia and the previously active 61 year-old suffered severe and life-changing injuries. Michael too is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel and is described in the Legal 500 as being ‘tenacious and proactive’.
Sharon Banga
Sharon has successfully represented claimants in a wide range of claims arising from misdiagnosis of fractures, delays in diagnosis of cancer, birth injuries, surgical error, spinal injuries and amputation cases. She too has handled and settled a number of the Ian Paterson cases including the very first set of private cases.
She is also a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel and has considerable experience in dealing with fatality claims as well as claims involving severe injuries where ongoing care and other needs must be assessed. Sharon is highly experienced in many areas of medical negligence and is recommended in the Legal 500 for her ‘diligence and strong client care'.
Phil Barnes, partner and national head of medical negligence at Shoosmiths, said:
‘We are delighted to have Kashmir, Michael and Sharon on board. Their experience and excellent reputation for representing claimants in high value and high profile medical negligence claims and their focus on delivering the best results for their clients will further enhance the team’s excellent local and national reputation.’
Kashmir added:
'I am excited to be joining an experienced medical negligence team with such a strong reputation for delivering excellent results and service for their clients. I am looking forward to working with both my valued colleagues who have joined me and Shoosmiths’s well-established team.’
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Allan Bisset, Shoosmiths.
Phone: 03700 866736.
Email: [email protected]
Main image shows: (L: R) Michael Burrell, Kashmir Uppal and Sharon Banga
Disclaimer
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before acting on any of the information given. © Shoosmiths LLP 2024
