LAWYER IN THE NEWS

Who? John Kitchingman, a 50-year-old partner in the clinical negligence and medical law department of 54-partner Manchester firm Pannone & Partners.

Why is he in the news? Acts for the parents of the conjoined twins Mary and Jodie, who are appealing against a High Court ruling that the twins should be separated in order for the stronger girl Jodie to survive.

Separation would mean that Mary would die and the parents, Roman Catholics from southern Europe, have said that allowing one daughter to die for the sake of the other would go against their beliefs.

Background: Graduated in law from Hull University in 1972 and completed his Law Society Finals at Guildford College of Law in 1973.

Articled with Pannones, qualifying in 1975, and has been with the firm ever since.

Route to the case: 'We have a large clinical negligence department: the trust who were acting for the parents needed a solicitor urgently, and so contacted us.'

Thoughts on the case: 'To say this is an incredibly sensitive and difficult case would be an understatement.

We're looking at what could be seen to be in the best interests of the children - although this operation gives life to one child it inevitably brings death to the other, and the parents feel that it would be wrong to change the natural course of the children's conditions.

Our view is that the law is simply not able to authorise the operation to separate the girls, and so if this appeal fails we will take the case to the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights.'

Dealing with the media: 'We've had not only national coverage, but also interview requests from among others Good Morning America, The LA Times and the ABC network.

I've had some experience of dealing with the media before - I acted in the 'Ice baby' case in 1988, the first frozen embryo to come to Britain - and the firm has dealt with some high-profile cases such as the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, the Lockerbie crash, and the Thalidomide drug cases.'

Victoria MacCallum