Areas of Expertise

• Personal Injury

  Personal injury is one of Cassandra’s primary areas of practice. She has extensive experience acting for both claimants and defendants across the full range of personal injury litigation.

  Her practice encompasses claims involving employers’ liability, road traffic accidents, occupiers’ liability, highways accidents, accidents abroad, and claims arising under the Defective Premises Act 1972.

  Cassandra is regularly instructed in contested liability and causation disputes, including cases involving allegations of dishonesty, technical factual issues and vulnerable witnesses.

  She frequently delivers personal injury training and seminars and is a regular contributor to the Ropewalk Chambers Personal Injury Blog.

  Notable Personal Injury Cases

  • Represented the defendants at the final hearing of committal proceedings in Jet2 Holidays Ltd v Hughes & Hughes
  • Acted for a Claimant injured at work whilst manoeuvring a heavy patient using a glide commode
  • Successfully defended a supermarket employer in proceedings brought by an employee alleging injury caused by a spider bite at work
  • Represented a defendant insurer in personal injury proceedings in which the Claimant discontinued following cross-examination, agreed to pay the Defendant’s costs, and consented to the setting aside of Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting
  • Acted for a Claimant injured after slipping on algae on a communal housing estate pathway
  • Successfully defended an employer in proceedings brought by an employee alleging injury while manoeuvring a defective dolly
  • Represented a Claimant injured at work after falling from an Omni-trolley which she had not been trained to use

  Accidents Abroad and Travel Claims

  Cassandra has significant experience acting for both claimants and defendants in accidents abroad, holiday sickness claims, and claims involving the Montreal Convention.

  Her recent successes include:

  • Acting for a Claimant in a claim involving complex causation issues, allegations of dishonesty, and a dispute as to the appropriate standard of care, resulting in a favourable settlement
  • Acting for a Claimant left bedbound following an accident abroad, where the claim raised complex issues of foreign law, also resolved by favourable settlement

• Counter Fraud

  Cassandra has substantial experience acting for defendants across all areas of counter-fraud litigation. She is frequently instructed in cases involving phantom passengers, staged and induced accidents, low-velocity impact claims, and exaggerated or dishonest presentations of injury.

  She is a skilled and incisive cross-examiner, with a strong track record of successfully defending claims on the basis that they are not proved or are fundamentally dishonest. Her advocacy is characterised by a flexible and forensic approach to the evidence, with a clear understanding of when allegations of outright fabrication are sustainable and when a more nuanced case of exaggeration or partial dishonesty is appropriate.

  Cassandra is particularly adept at keeping the evidential landscape under continual review and tailoring her strategy as cases develop, ensuring that arguments advanced remain proportionate and well-founded.

  A notable example of her work involved a claim which was dismissed pursuant to section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, where she successfully established that the Claimant’s daughter, a minor, was not present in the vehicle at the time of the accident, rendering the stayed claim brought on the child’s behalf fundamentally dishonest.

  Cassandra is well regarded for her empathetic and measured approach in what are often painful and highly emotive proceedings, particularly when acting for bereaved families. She combines sensitivity with firm, focused advocacy.

  She is also regularly instructed to act for Claimants in linked Fatal Accidents Act and dependency claims arising out of inquests.

• Clinical Negligence

  Cassandra has significant experience in clinical negligence litigation, acting for both claimants and defendants. She regularly drafts pleadings and schedules of loss, and advises on liability and quantum, both in writing and in conference.

  She is regularly instructed to represent parties at Costs and Case Management Conferences, and her experience also includes pre-trial reviews and conferences with medical experts across a range of disciplines.

  Cassandra accepts instructions across all areas of clinical negligence and has a particular interest in claims involving misdiagnosis and delayed treatment.

  Her recent successes include achieving favourable settlements for:

  • Claimant who developed severe pressure injuries while bedbound as an inpatient in hospital
  • Claimant whose cancer treatment was delayed as a result of misdiagnosis

  Cassandra maintains a current and detailed knowledge of developments in clinical negligence law and is a regular contributor to the Ropewalk Chambers Clinical Negligence Blog.

• Disease

  Cassandra has developed a strong disease practice, with substantial experience acting for both claimants and defendants. She is regularly instructed in noise-induced hearing loss claims, advising on limitation, causation, and the drafting of questions to medical experts. Her experience also includes claims involving hand–arm vibration syndrome.

  She has extensive experience representing parties at interlocutory hearings and Costs and Case Management Conferences.  She achieved numerous successes both in pursuing and resisting applications for defendant medical expert evidence, repeat audiograms, and responses to Part 18 requests.

  Cassandra also regularly represents both claimants and defendants at limitation trials and noise-induced hearing loss trials.

• Inquests

  Cassandra represents families and other interested persons at inquests and pre-inquest review hearings. She is frequently instructed by the Ministry of Justice in cases involving deaths in custody.

  She recently represented the family at the inquest into the death of James Southern, in which the coroner concluded that the death was contributed to by failings of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. For more information, click here.

  Cassandra is well regarded for her empathetic and measured approach in what are often painful and highly emotive proceedings, particularly when acting for bereaved families. She combines sensitivity with firm, focused advocacy.

  She is also regularly instructed to act for Claimants in linked Fatal Accidents Act and dependency claims arising out of inquests.

About

• Appointments

  • Attorney General’s Regional B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown
  • Deputy District Judge
  • Direct Access

• Professional Memberships

  • Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA)

• Qualifications

  • LLB (Hons), University of Birmingham