Lawyer In The News

Who? Paul McNeil, 42-year old partner in the clinical negligence department of City firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.Why is he in the news? Represents Josephine Ocloo, who sued the Royal Brompton hospital in London for negligence over the death of her teenage daughter from a heart condition in 1996 after being denied a hospital appointment.

Last week, Ms Ocloo's claim for 20,000 damages was dismissed, although the judge ruled that the hospital was negligent in not having seen her daughter.

The NHS Litigation Authority has told Ms Ocloo that it will be pursuing her for 115,000 in legal costs after the failed action.Background: LLB at Sheffield University 1977-80, followed by Law Society finals at the College of Law, Lancaster Gate in 1981.

He qualified with Arenow Paine in 1983, and joined Amhurst Brown as an assistant from 1983-1985.

He moved to Taylor Joynson Garrett in 1985, and joined Field Fisher Waterhouse in 1992, becoming a partner in 1994.

Route to the case: 'It was referred to me by the charity Action for Victims of Medical Accidents, with whom we do a lot of work.'Thoughts on the case: 'Two things have to be proven in clinical negligence cases - first, that the doctor or hospital acted negligently, and second that the negligence caused harm to the patient.

In this case, although the judge felt that the hospital was negligent, he thought that even if the hospital had given an appointment to the patient, it would not have made any difference to the eventual outcome.

So the hospital may have won a technical victory, but not a moral one.

For my client, losing her daughter was catastrophic, but if the hospital does pursue her for costs - as I think it will - losing her house will be disastrous to a lesser degree.'Dealing with the media: 'I'm phoned frequently by journalists asking about cases, and only about 10% of the stories see the light of day.

My name and the firm are mentioned in only about 1% of those, which can be irritating if you have spent a long time on the phone explaining the issues to journalists.

But, as with any profession, there are good journalists and there are bad journalists.'Victoria MacCallum