She was head of pupillage in Chambers between 2012 and 2020. She continues to take an active part in training of pupils, including acting as a pupil supervisor and running pupils’ in-house advocacy training. She is currently Wellbeing Officer for PIBA.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Katherine is committed to alternative dispute resolution, which she believes to be generally a far more appropriate means of resolving personal injury claims than trials. She has immense experience in alternative dispute resolution, and has acted for claimants and defendants in joint settlement meetings and mediations on hundreds of occasions. She has successfully settled claims running into many millions of pounds. She is a trained personal injury arbitrator and conciliator, and undertook hundreds of conciliations mediating between cruise lines and disgruntled passengers for the Passenger Shipping Association before its dissolution.
Katherine acts in a large number of aviation claims. These range from fatal air crashes and general aviation accidents to claims arising from faulty ejector seats and seat belt airbags, medical negligence on board air ambulance flights, aerotoxicity claims and product liability claims, as well as claims involving complicated career paths and earnings calculations for flight crew and cabin crew. She has been involved in various claims arising out of the Vauxhall helicopter crash, the Germanwings crash, the Jet Airways crash and the Indonesia Air Asia crash, the Derriford Hospital downwash incident, amongst numerous others. She has extensive experience of Convention claims and is currently instructed in claims arising out of the Singapore Air turbulence incident. Outside of personal injury actions, she undertakes common law aviation cases including the successful defence of an appeal to the Privy Council arising out of the theft of an aircraft from a Bahamian airport (The Airport Authority v Western Air [2020] UKPC 29).
Katherine is a leading specialist in personal injury and travel law, with a practice mainly comprising high value personal injury or fatal accident claims usually involving death or injuries of maximum severity.
She has a particular expertise dealing with claims arising from overseas accidents or medical treatment, in particular concerning issues of jurisdiction and choice of law. She is widely considered a leading expert on the interpretation and application of Rome II, and acted for the claimant in the first ever decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union to consider the scope of Rome II, Homawoo v GMF Assurances (CJEU Case C412/10). She acted for Bulgarian insurers in a recent case involving the test for habitual residence of itinerant workers, Yordanov v Vasilev and others [2024] EWHC 1496 (KB).
She has especial interest in the application by the English court of foreign principles of assessment and is very used to working with foreign law experts to achieve the best results. She has acted in some of the largest foreign injury and fatal accident claims ever brought in an English court. She has extensive experience of the specific issues involved where British employees are injured or killed whilst working overseas including in the context of the terrorist attack on the In Amenas plant in Algeria, as well as cross-border abuse claims (often involving questions of foreign limitation) and overseas medical treatment, including numerous clinical negligence claims involving Spanish hospitals and clinics.
She has considerable experience in jurisdictional disputes and has acted in numerous landmark judgments concerning the direct right to sue foreign domiciled defendants in England, including Jones v AGF [2010] IL Pr 4, Thwaites v Aviva Assurances [2010] Lloyd’s Rep IR 661, Panagaki v Minetta SA General Insurance [2015] EWHC 2700 (QB), and Le Guevel-Mouly v. AIG Europe Ltd [2016] EWHC 1794 (QB). She acted with Howard Stevens QC in the landmark case of Keefe v Mapfre & Hoteles Pinero Canarias SL [2015] EWCA Civ 598, which was considered by the Supreme Court before reference to the CJEU. She has been instructed in numerous cases arising out of the interpretation of different provisions of the Judgments Regulation, including Lackey v Mallorca Mega Resorts SL [2019] EWHC 1028 (QB); Cole v IVI Madrid SL [2019] 9 WLUK 373, which was referred to the CJEU in late 2019; and Flowers v Centro Medico and another [2021] EWHC 2437 (QB); and is currently instructed in numerous post-Brexit claims with jurisdictional issues.
She also has extensive experience in package travel claims, acting for and against all of the major tour operators in claims ranging from mass outbreaks of gastric illness to drowning accidents, sexual assaults and deaths overseas. She acted for numerous victims of the Tunisia terrorist attack in the inquest and subsequent civil claims. She was also instructed on behalf of the claimant in the first package travel appeal to the Supreme Court (and one of the last cases referred to the CJEU) in the case of X v Kuoni Travel Ltd [2019] UKSC 37 which clarified the law as it relates to liability of tour operators for deliberate assaults overseas.
Katherine has acted in numerous inquests, including the lengthy and high profile inquest resulting from the terrorist attack in Sousse, Tunisia, in which 30 British nationals were killed where she acted for many of the families of the deceased, and has a particular interest in public inquiries involving injury or death.
Katherine is an experienced appellate advocate and has acted in numerous appeals to the Privy Council ranging from theft of an aircraft, The Airport Authority v Western Air [2020] UKPC 29, clinical negligence, Roopchand v Tesheira [2022] UKPC 38, VAT on prescribed costs Singh-Weekes v SW Regional HA [2025] UKPC 10, human rights and constitutional rights violations from prolonged detention Noel & Henry v AG of St Lucia [2023] UKSC 41 and police brutality Cleare v The AG [2017] UKPC 38, and the ambit of submissions of no case to answer in civil claims, Strachan v Albany Resort Operator Ltd.
Katherine has acted in numerous cases involving professional sportspeople, including in recent cases involving assessment of the lost Olympic prospects of the claimants (and the financial opportunities available depending on levels of success) as well as assessment of the opportunities available to former professional athletes in the field of reality television. She has expertise in ensuring the evidence of sporting prowess, sponsorship and other remuneration is developed to best advantage.
Please contact us either by telephone: +44 (0)20 7415 7800 or email: clerks@3harecourt.com
