Focus on our personal injury and medical negligence team at Clarke Willmott

Our dedicated teams work hard to look after clients, whatever their legal needs. Our broad expertise across the firm means that anyone of our lawyers has access to a network of experts who can be recommended to ensure you are receiving the best holistic legal care at the right time.

In this series, we’re showcasing the individuals who make up our talented team. We’re speaking with our legal experts to learn more about their areas of expertise, what they enjoy most about their work, and how they work together to provide exceptional legal care to our clients.

Our personal injury & medical negligence team works closely with clients who have often suffered life-changing injuries – like amputations, brain or spinal cord injury.

We spoke to Marguarita Tyne – partner and newly appointed head of the personal injury and medical negligence team at Clarke Willmott. We asked Marguarita about the work the team does and about some of the questions and concerns they often hear from people seeking advice.

Tell us about the personal injury and medical negligence team at Clarke Willmott

Our clients have usually experienced something deeply traumatic, so our work needs a high level of empathy. We are a friendly team and we all practise in this area of law because we like the personal element. If you are looking for legal advice in this area of law, you want to be sure that your lawyer’s legal skills are first class – that they can be tough when necessary, but also build trust when handling very personal and sensitive information.

We have the privilege of acting for some wonderful and incredibly inspiring people. We often work with families whose lives have been put on hold to care for a family member. We focus on how to make their lives better – whether by providing peace of mind, or just some closure.

They really care about their clients and they are total masters of the detail of all documents. They are highly competent and efficient lawyers.

Chambers UK 2020

How do you work together with colleagues at Clarke Willmott to help clients?

We could potentially act for any clients of the firm, as well as anyone in the firm, their families, friends, or any wider contacts they may have and are always happy to hear from contacts through our internal market. What matters is that we can be recommended as a trusted advisor and highly skilled in the areas of clinical negligence and serious personal injury. We work very closely with the rest of the private client team, especially probate and Court of Protection, the former on fatal cases and the latter where settlement monies have been received for a protected party and management of those funds for their benefit is required.

What questions are you often asked by people seeking advice?

Is it going to be worth my while bringing a claim?

It can be difficult to answer that question with an amount of money because it is hard to predict exactly what you are going to get. We can usually give a range and are able to reassure most clients that bringing a claim will be worth the stress involved in a claim. We can mostly identify the types of compensation that they will recover, eg for past or future loss of earnings, care and equipment and medical costs.

How long does a claim take?

We sometimes deal with delay from opponents, so the answer to that question is really based on experience of how difficult it can be to persuade NHS trusts (for example) and their legal representatives to compensate victims. Sometimes it is straightforward, and then there are other cases where the defendants can really drag their heels. This is not always their fault as they also have to investigate a case and defend clinicians but the time these cases take can exacerbate problems, particularly if someone has had a psychiatric reaction.

The other scenario that can prolong a case is when the final condition of the injured person is not known and we want to be sure that we are settling with a proper understanding of the injured person’s needs in the future.

What if I don't want money compensation?

Sometimes people don’t want to take money from the NHS but are looking to improve protocols or systems that have fallen down rather than seeking compensation. We can signpost to other organisations that might help with this, but in a legal case we can’t offer that as a remedy. The goal for the legal side of a personal injury or medical negligence case is to obtain compensation. If someone doesn’t want to go down that route, then we’re not the best people for them.

What would you say to someone reading this who is nervous about seeking advice?

Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone or send an email. An initial phone call is free, and we may have several free-of-charge conversations with someone before deciding whether we can help. Cost is a big concern for many people. In reality it’s very rare that a client will have to fund their case up front or have any adverse costs; we’ll look into financing options together, and in almost all cases the client does not have to pay if the claim is lost.

For many clients there is a huge sense of relief that they can tell their story and be heard. Our goal is to provide a clear roadmap of what your claim might look like, and if we don’t think we can help we will let you know. We’re always looking to be as straightforward as possible which is especially important if someone has a brain injury, and that might also mean travelling to someone for a face to face meeting if they’ve had a serious injury and are more comfortable at home.

What brought you to this work? Why law and why this area?

I always wanted to be a lawyer, and I realised early on in my career that I wanted to work in an area of the law with a lot of contact with people, helping to solve their legal problems. During my training I did a lot of personal injury work, and now my specialism is clinical negligence. It’s an interesting discipline where you use legal skills, but you also have the opportunity to learn about other areas. In personal injury, we often work with engineers, and in medical negligence, we learn a lot about medicine – procedures and diagnoses. We learn what good healthcare looks like, because sadly we see what happens when it goes wrong and we want to avoid that happening.

What is a day in your working life like?

No two days are the same. My best days are ones where I’ve focused on a medical report, a hearing I’m preparing for, looking at a new case or organising and attending a conference, all of which need concentration and time to understand the issues.

Posted: 31 May 2023

Your key contact

Marguarita Tyne

Head of Personal Injury & Medical Negligence

Bristol

Marguarita Tyne is a claimant clinical negligence solicitor who investigates and brings claims on behalf of patients who have been injured during the course of their medical treatment, acting mainly (but not exclusively) for brain injury claimants in high value and often complex litigation.

View profile for Marguarita Tyne >

Meet our wider personal injury & medical negligence team

With seven offices throughout England and Wales, Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with a local presence. Meet our legal professionals and how they can support you.

Meet the team