Maria Maguire KC

Year of Call: 1987

0131 260 5674
maria.maguire@advocates.org.uk

Photo of Maria Maguire KC

"At the top of her game in every respect" ; "‘Absolutely superb" ; "Supremely able and highly skilled"

Chambers & Partners

Maria Maguire KC called to the Bar in March 1987. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in February 2002. She has considerable experience in catastrophic injury cases, clinical negligence cases, fatal accident inquiries, abuse claims, cases involving psychiatric injuries and regularly acts in significant judicial review petitions for government bodies.

She has been listed in Chambers & Partners UK Bar Guide consistently at Band 1 or higher.

Previous entries for Personal Injury describe her as “Frequently noted as a formidable negotiator, she has significant experience of acting for both pursuer and defender in high-level catastrophic injury claims”; “She’s had some pretty spectacular results – she is an extremely skilful QC;  and “She’s awesome – scarily so.”; “She is one of the best advocates, if not the best, in Scotland. She is very nice and approachable with clients but in a courtroom she is just fierce.”; “She doesn’t give in easily. She is very robust and formidable on cases.”

For Clinical Negligence her previous entries note: “She is absolutely superb. She is very well prepared and is brilliant with clients.”; “She is someone who for many years has been entrusted with the most complex and difficult cases in Scotland.”;  “a first-class clinical negligence advocate who is revered for her straightforward and hard-working approach. She specialises in complex brain injury and cerebral palsy cases and clients are left impressed with her ability to ‘always take every available argument‘.” ; “has produced some fantastic results” ; Unanimously regarded as a standout advocate in this arena, Maria is constantly in high demand. Of late, she has been focused on acting for pursuers in cases of the utmost complexity and severity. Strengths: “An absolute star at clinical negligence.” “She carries a great deal of weight in the court.”

She has been described in The Legal 500 as “‘quite superb, absolutely diligent in all aspects of her work ’, and with an ‘immense’ knowledge base is able to ‘conduct fairly high-brow medical consultations with expert witnesses intelligibly and concisely without missing anything out; “A leading silk whose  experience, judgement, intellectual ability and attention to detail are second to none.”

In Chambers 2019 she is rated as a Star Individual in both Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence with the following entries:

Personal Injury

A towering figure in both personal injury and clinical negligence matters. She specialises in complex catastrophic injury claims as well as fatal accidents, abuse claims and psychiatric injuries. Her competitors agree that she is a formidable opponent in court. “ ‘At the top of her game in every respect. She deals with highly complex matters and still manages to communicate with clients so that they both understand her and have total faith in her representation.”; “ She has excellent attention to detail , is excellent on her feet and as a strategist she has no equal.”

 Clinical Negligence

“Routinely considered the leading silk in the field of Scottish clinical negligence litigation…. Her extensive advocacy experience enables her to get to the bottom of the thorniest of medical causation issues”; “Top class. She has an eye for detail and knows the law”; “Supremely able and highly skilled”; “Absolutely superb. I would pretty much let her take my appendix out. Her knowledge of medicine is second to none and she is a great tactician.”

Legal 500 entry notes her as a leading silk in both fields  and  ‘A formidable advocate who commands respect.

Maria acts on behalf of defenders, insurers, local authorities, professional bodies and individual pursuers – including those funded via legal aid, trade unions or on a speculative basis. Maria also acts for clients in Health & Safety Prosecutions.

As a member of the court user’s group dealing with court procedure she drafted the basis for the Chapter 42A procedures for catastrophic injury cases in Scotland and Practice Notes in order to improve the management of such cases. She continues to be active in monitoring and improving the procedure. She currently chairs a  sub group of the Personal Injury Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council developing  a Voluntary Pre Action Protocol for Clinical Negligence cases.

Selected significant reported cases

Confidentiality prohibits the details of the numerous claims which have settled without recourse to the courts or in the course of proof

Practice areas

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