Dr Philip Hughes

Call 2017

“Philip always provides very comprehensive, thorough and easy to understand advice.”

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

“Philip always provides very comprehensive, thorough and easy to understand advice.”


Chambers & Partners 2024

“He provides an excellent level of service.”


Chambers & Partners 2024

“Philip Hughes is increasingly sought after for his medical expertise, which he has brought to bear…”


Legal 500 2024

  • MA (Hons) Cantab, MB, BChir, Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge
  • GDL (Distinction), BPP Law School
  • BPTC (Very Competent) BPP Law School

Philip Hughes is a specialist Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence practitioner. He represents both claimants and defendants on the full spectrum of issues within these practice areas, including at Inquests and in associated Costs matters.

He joined Guildhall Chambers in 2018 and has since developed a busy practice dealing almost exclusively with multi-track litigation. He is able to leverage his qualification as a doctor to advise on matters of particular medical complexity.

He is recognised and recommended by both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.

“Philip always provides very comprehensive, thorough and easy to understand advice.” Chambers & Partners 2024

“He provides an excellent level of service.” Chambers & Partners 2024

“Philip Hughes is increasingly sought after for his medical expertise, which he has brought to bear…” Legal 500 2024

Expertise

Philip has a well-established Personal Injury practice which is almost exclusively multi-track. He works on matters far beyond those expected of his year of call and against Counsel considerably his senior.

He represents both claimants and defendants in a full range of matters and covering a full range of liability and quantum issues, including:

  • Road Traffic Accidents
  • Employers’ Liability
  • Occupiers’ Liability
  • Fundamental Dishonesty / Low Velocity Impact
  • Chronic Pain
  • Psychiatric Injury / Somatisation
  • Fatal Accidents
  • Lost Years Claims

Examples of his recent work include:

  • Securing settlement in excess of £200,000 at JSM for a Claimant who suffered pelvic fractures and chronic pain following an RTA.
  • Representing the Defendant in a High Court claim pleaded in excess of £500,000 and involving issues of fundamental dishonesty arising from surveillance.
  • Settling a complex somatisation case at JSM for the Claimant where causation and quantum remained in dispute.
  • Successfully representing 3 claimants in a 2-day multi-track liability trial arising from a 3-year-old child being struck by a car, and subsequently negotiating a favourable quantum settlement.
  • Successfully representing a Defendant in a 2-day multi-track trial arising from an accident at work.

Philip is recognised as an Up and Coming Individual by Chambers & Partners.

Philip is willing to work on a nil-uplift Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) basis where appropriate.

 

Philip has a successful Clinical Negligence practice and is increasingly sought after to represent claimants and defendants. He works almost exclusively on matters of at least high 5- and 6-figure value, often involving multiple experts and complex issues of liability and/or quantum. He also has experience as junior counsel.

He is increasingly sought after for his medical and legal expertise. He is able to utilise his qualification as a doctor to quickly identify, understand and advise on the key issues in cases, even whilst they remain in their infancy.

Examples of Philip’s recent work include:

  • Representing a Claimant who suffered a stroke following the failure of his GP surgery to identify and treat hypertension. The claim is pleaded at c. £750,000.
  • Securing settlement in excess of £250,000 at JSM for a Claimant who underwent negligently performed ACL repair.
  • Advising the prospective Claimants in a contractual claim where a fertility clinic had inadvertently destroyed their IVF embryos.
  • Acting for a Claimant incorrectly diagnosed with epilepsy in the 1970s who has suffered brain injury by reason of the anti-epileptic drugs he was prescribed.
  • Advising on and securing settlement for the widowed Claimant in a fatal accident claim arising from delayed diagnosis of multiple myeloma.

Philip is recommended by Legal 500 for his “medical expertise”.

Philip is willing to work on a nil-uplift Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) basis where appropriate. He is happy to attend inquests where there are sufficient prospects.

Philip has a growing Costs Litigation practice representing parties in all aspects of Civil Costs disputes.

His instructions have covered a wide range of practice areas, including property litigation, commercial litigation, and wills & probate. However, the majority of his work arises from Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence claims.

He regularly undertakes cost management work including CCMCs, represents parties in costs proceedings, advises on the principle of costs, advises on interpretation of settlements and Orders, and advises on QOCS/Part 36 issues.

Recent examples of Costs Litigation issues Philip has dealt with are:

  • Interpretation of a Part 36 offer which had been expressed to be net of a CRU figure inconsistent with the CRU certificate.
  • An application for wasted costs arising from failure to comply with orders of the court.
  • The award of costs where a Claimant only beat the Defendant’s Part 36 offer by reason of evidence adduced with an ad hoc relief from sanctions application on the day of trial.
  • An application for an extension of time to serve points of dispute where an appeal hearing was pending.
  • Preliminary and final assessments of costs.

Philip has experience representing a full range of interested parties at inquests. He primarily undertakes inquests as a precursor to civil proceedings, but he also undertakes standalone inquest work where complex or delicate issues arise.

Examples of recent inquests he has been involved in include:

  • Representing the family at Article 2 inquest arising from the incorrect transfer of a Covid-negative patient to a Covid-positive ward. The Coroner was persuaded that the Deceased’s Article 2 rights had been breached.
  • Persuading the Coroner to issue a PFD report in circumstances where a care home resident had choked to death whilst being spoon-fed by a staff member.
  • Representing the family of a Deceased child in delicate circumstances where the question of possible suicide was raised.

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

“Philip always provides very comprehensive, thorough and easy to understand advice.”


Chambers & Partners 2024

“He provides an excellent level of service.”


Chambers & Partners 2024

“Philip Hughes is increasingly sought after for his medical expertise, which he has brought to bear…”


Legal 500 2024

  • MA (Hons) Cantab, MB, BChir, Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge
  • GDL (Distinction), BPP Law School
  • BPTC (Very Competent) BPP Law School

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

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