Sophie Holme

Call 2009

‘Sophie is an exceptionally able and forensic counsel, who combines intellectual rigour with empathy. Impressively analytical, and demonstrates excellent client rapport.’

For enquiries please contact

Caroline Evans
Senior Practice Manager - Civil
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Olive Kavanagh
Practice Manager - Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence, Court of Protection (Health & Welfare)
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

‘Sophie is an exceptionally able and forensic counsel, who combines intellectual rigour with empathy. Impressively analytical, and demonstrates excellent client rapport.’


Legal 500 2023 UK

"Sophie has an excellent rapport with clients and puts them at ease. She is very dedicated and thorough in her approach to all clinical negligence cases."


Chambers & Partners UK 2023

"Sophie combines a fierce intellect with meticulous attention to detail. She is also tactically astute."


Legal 500 2022

"A phenomenally capable counsel who combines intellectual rigour, impeccable judgement, attention to detail, and determination."


Legal 500 2021

"She is a pleasure to work with and is excellent on paper."


Chambers & Partners 2021

"A very safe pair of hands on high value and complex cases."


Legal 500 2020

"She is bright, personable and utterly reliable. Clients love her empathetic nature and ability to grasp issues quickly."


Chambers & Partners 2019

  • Associate Lecturer, Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury, Bristol Law School, University of the West of England
  • Legal & Regulatory Affairs Manager, Independent Schools Council
  • Translator & Editor of Academic Research into Globalisation, Groupes d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les Mondialisations, Paris

  • BVC (Outstanding), UWE Bristol
  • MSt, European Literature, University of Oxford
  • BA, French & Linguistics, University of Oxford

  • Action Against Medical Accidents (AVMA)
  • Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA)

Sophie Holme is a leading junior with a strong reputation for representing claimants and defendants in Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury claims.

Sophie acts in cases involving the full range of medical specialisms and a wide range of injuries.

In Inquests, Sophie has experience of difficult cases involving a wide range of healthcare matters involving medical and psychiatric treatment, including prison deaths and those within Hospital Trusts. Sophie appears on behalf of families and Trusts, and represents the interests of doctors. She is happy to consider acting pro bono in appropriate cases, given the difficulty faced by many seeking to fund representation in the coronial setting.

Sophie has significant experience of Regulatory & Discipline law and has enjoyed considerable success acting for nurses before the NMC, and as prosecutor for the GDC.

Sophie is Tier 1 ranked in Legal 500 for Clinical Negligence, which describes her as “a phenomenally capable counsel who combines intellectual rigour, impeccable judgement, attention to detail, and determination”.

Expertise

Sophie has a wide experience of Personal Injury cases including employers’ liability, occupiers’ liability, highways, road traffic accidents, the Animals Act, product liability, industrial disease, fatal accidents, Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) cases, Criminal Injury Claims (CICA) appeals and Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) appeals.

Sophie’s main area of expertise are claims concerning multiple or complex injuries. She is sought after for her strong focus on client care and robust advice, and is regularly instructed in claims involving serious spinal injuries, having particular expertise in this field.

Sophie is happy to work on a nil-uplift Conditional Fee Agreement basis in appropriate cases.

Sophie is tier 1 ranked for Clinical Negligence in Legal 500, with experience advising on cases in the full range of medical contexts. She has a keen eye for the forensic analysis required to successfully claim and defend in this field.

She has advised on the following range of cases in recent years:

  • Cardiology and cardiac surgery: inappropriate treatment of acute coronary syndrome, delayed diagnosis of endocarditis, surgical delay cases and surgical negligence cases;
  • Consent: failure to appropriately consent to treatment in a wide variety of contexts including gastric surgery, cardiology, orthopaedic cases, spinal surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology;
  • Cancer diagnosis and treatment claims: bowel, bladder, skin, osteosarcoma and lung cases.
  • General Practice: inappropriate advice, examination, delayed diagnosis and incorrect prescription cases.
  • Hepato-biliary: surgical negligence leading to serious permanent injury;
  • Microbiology: hospital acquired infections, inappropriate antibiotics or inappropriate dosages, failure to obtain microbiology advice when required;
  • Neurology: delayed diagnosis of brain tumour leading to catastrophic injury, delayed diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, stroke (failure to prevent and failure to treat) and spinal injuries;
  • Nursing: full range of cases involving all aspects of nursing in which Sophie has a particular interest as a result of her experience defending nurses before the NMC.
  • Obstetrics and Gynaecology: wrongful birth, post-partum haemorrhage, Erb’s Palsy, intrauterine growth restriction and stillbirth, intrapartum care; failed sterilisation, hysterectomy, gynaecological surgery resulting in injury to the gastro-intestinal tract, bladder, uterus and/or ureters;
  • Otorhinolaryngology: recurrent laryngeal nerve injury;
  • Psychology/Psychiatry: inappropriate treatment, medication, failure to prevent suicide, secondary victim claims and a wide range of other multiple psychiatric injury claims consequential upon physical injury;
  • Radiology and neuroradiology;
  • Rheumatology: chronic pain, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue cases;
  • Urology: iatrogenic ureteric injury, drug induced kidney failure, stress and urge incontinence cases, surgical negligence cases;
  • Vascular/endocrinology: inappropriate prescription, failed management of thrombosis leading to amputation.

Sophie is happy to work on a nil-uplift CFA basis in appropriate Clinical Negligence cases.

Featured Clinical Negligence cases


DS (in her own right and on behalf of the estate of GS) v (1) DR JM (2) PB (3) UT (2019)

Lawtel – £239,545 delayed diagnosis of bladder cancer.


AE v Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2020)

Lawtel – £241,569 surgical injury accelerating back and spinal conditions.


AB v Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2019)

Lawtel – £902,841 hepatobiliary injury leading to sepsis and multiple amputation


IW v Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Lawtel – £1,329,073 lower limb amputation arising as a result of delayed treatment of infection.


CL (on her own behalf and on behalf of the estate of AL, Deceased) v (1) DB; (2) DS (2018)

Lawtel – £692,718 psychiatric disorder caused by inappropriate prescription.

Sophie is experienced in healthcare regulatory work. Her Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) work has included successfully defending a broad variety of allegations including assault by practitioners, medication errors, fatal overdoses, alcoholism, drug addiction, record keeping errors, and more.

Sophie has experience representing both the interests of medical professionals and relatives of the deceased at Inquests.

She also represents families whose relatives have died as a result of suspected Clinical Negligence.

In addition, Sophie has experience of advisory work leading up to the inquest including:

  • Evidence,
  • Disclosure
  • Article 2 issues
  • The need for a jury
  • Expert evidence
  • Funding in the inquest context

Throughout the course of her career, Sophie has gained extensive experience of cases where she has represented vulnerable clients who lack capacity (including those with learning disabilities and brain injury). Sophie has been consistently praised for her attention to detail and client-centred sensitive approach. She has significant experience dealing with mental health care and treatment along with experience representing professionals working within hospitals, prisons, community and other care settings with vulnerable individuals.

Sophie is highly adept at working with experts, professionals and vulnerable clients alike with a Tier 1 Legal 500 ranking for clinical negligence. Against the backdrop of this experience, Sophie is building her Court of Protection practice in Health and Welfare matters where she has received unsolicited praise for her ‘hard work’ and ‘considered tact’ within the context of proceedings to determine capacity and s.16 decision making in relation to care and residence.

For enquiries please contact

Caroline Evans
Senior Practice Manager - Civil
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

Olive Kavanagh
Practice Manager - Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence, Court of Protection (Health & Welfare)
0117 930 9000
Click here to email

‘Sophie is an exceptionally able and forensic counsel, who combines intellectual rigour with empathy. Impressively analytical, and demonstrates excellent client rapport.’


Legal 500 2023 UK

"Sophie has an excellent rapport with clients and puts them at ease. She is very dedicated and thorough in her approach to all clinical negligence cases."


Chambers & Partners UK 2023

"Sophie combines a fierce intellect with meticulous attention to detail. She is also tactically astute."


Legal 500 2022

"A phenomenally capable counsel who combines intellectual rigour, impeccable judgement, attention to detail, and determination."


Legal 500 2021

"She is a pleasure to work with and is excellent on paper."


Chambers & Partners 2021

"A very safe pair of hands on high value and complex cases."


Legal 500 2020

"She is bright, personable and utterly reliable. Clients love her empathetic nature and ability to grasp issues quickly."


Chambers & Partners 2019

  • Associate Lecturer, Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury, Bristol Law School, University of the West of England
  • Legal & Regulatory Affairs Manager, Independent Schools Council
  • Translator & Editor of Academic Research into Globalisation, Groupes d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les Mondialisations, Paris

  • BVC (Outstanding), UWE Bristol
  • MSt, European Literature, University of Oxford
  • BA, French & Linguistics, University of Oxford

  • Action Against Medical Accidents (AVMA)
  • Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA)

For help or advice please call 0117 930 9000 or complete the form below.

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