AW, as legal representative of LW v Greater Glasgow Health Board [2017] CSIH 58
Appeal in Clinical Liability claim based on the alleged negligence of midwifery staff resulting in cerebral palsy of child. Decision here.
Counsel help doctors to prepare for court
The prospect of appearing as a witness in court has become less daunting for a group of paediatricians after they received some expert tuition from members of Faculty.
Earlier this year, counsel presented a “mock trial” at a course run by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in Edinburgh, where delegates were cross-examined by advocates on professional witness reports which they had prepared from fictitious case studies.
“Some of the doctors expressed interest in learning more about the Scottish legal system, and in seeing a real court ‘in action’, as it were,” said Geoffrey Mitchell, QC of Ampersand.
Arrangements were made for a visit to the Faculty, and six doctors were shown around Parliament House and the Advocates Library, and they also saw proceedings in the Court of Session and the High Court.
“I was delighted to be able to extend this invitation on behalf of the Faculty and I think they enjoyed the day,” added Mr Mitchell.
“Clearly, it is important that we maintain links with other professional bodies. It was also a privilege to be able to help them get to grips with the Scottish legal structure, and the task of giving evidence in court.”
Marnie Greenrod, head of RCPCH Child Protection Education, said: “After a successful series of courses in London around report writing and preparing for court appearances, there was a recognised need to tailor these courses for a Scottish audience. We are greatly indebted to the advocates who so generously offered their time and expertise in better preparing our paediatricians for appearances in court.”
Una Doherty KC
Una Doherty KC has been ranked in many editions of the Legal 500 UK Bar Directory for Personal Injury and Medical Negligence. At the Legal 500 Scotland Awards 2024 held in November 2024 she was named Silk of the Year.
- 2025 edition (Band 1 ranking): “Una is one of Scotland’s most experienced and specialised counsel in the field of medical law. Nothing fazes her. She is calm and collected as well as extraordinarily thorough. She will not shy away from running complex arguments, and has an ability to unpick and clearly present complicated evidence.”
- 2024 edition: “Una is acutely intelligent with a meticulous and analytical approach. Her negotiation skills are excellent, and her legal analysis second to none.”
- 2023 edition: “Una is incredibly calm and instils confidence She is determined and dependable, and has the ability to cut straight through the superfluous and immediately identify the issues at the heart of an action.”
- 2021 edition: “Una has an incredible eye for detail and getting into the minutiae of a case. She runs consultations, negotiations and court hearings very well, making her a go-to senior counsel.”
- 2019 edition: “Extremely reliable, quick-witted and efficient.”
- 2018 edition: “A high calibre advocate.”
- 2017 edition: “Reliable and well organised.”
- 2016 edition: “An impressive ability to assimilate a lot of technical information very quickly.”
- 2015 edition: “Great attention to detail and particular strengths in high-value medical negligence claims.”
She has also been ranked for clinical negligence in many editions of Chambers UK Bar Guide.
- 2025 edition (Band 1 ranking): “Una has experience of the most complex and difficult cases, and in spite of her understated demeanour she will not back away from the challenge of running a difficult case or argument.” “Una Doherty is very conscientious, responsive and has huge attention to detail. In court she is very confident and she has a wealth of experience.”
- 2024 edition (Band 1 ranking): “Una is very skilled in technical cases. She is robust during consultations and also good with clients.” “Una’s great strength is the ability to deal with details of complex cases, but with a sufficient degree of passion.” “The speed with which she got on top of the detail was really impressive. She has the capacity to simplify complex legal and factual issues. She is a really good litigator who has done several trials for the office.”
- 2023 edition: “Una works with impressive detail, knowledge, diligence and insight.” “She deals with difficult situations with ease.” “Her written work is always clear and concise.” “She has a very good eye for detail.”
- 2022 edition: “She is meticulous in her preparation and attention to detail. She turns around work extremely efficiently.” “She is extremely thorough and diligent.”
- 2021 edition: “She is always extremely well prepared and is very thorough. She’s pragmatic and always puts the clients first.” “She is very meticulous, approachable and practical.”
- 2020 edition: “She is a thoughtful and diligent advocate.” “Her attention to detail is second to none. She’s also great with clients and is quick to spot issues.”
- 2019 edition, ranked as a new silk: “Very knowledgeable and very thorough.”
- 2018 edition: “She grasps legal concepts very well, is very tenacious in court, gives very clear advice and is hands-on.” “She has a very broad grasp of how things work on both the defendant and claimant side and is very effective in reaching sensible settlements.”
- 2017 edition: “Very able and efficient. She’s insightful and good at analysing cases.” “She’s always very well prepared.”
Una has also been ranked as a Leading Silk in Crime and Regulatory in the 2025 edition of the Legal 500 UK Bar Directory.
- 2025 edition: ‘Her advocacy style is understated yet powerful due to her thoroughness and cogent reasoning.’
She has also been ranked as a Leading Silk in Administrative and Public Law in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500 Bar Directory.
Una has a varied civil practice which covers a range of reparation disputes, although her main areas of practice are in personal injury and clinical negligence claims. She is instructed both for pursuers and for defenders and acts for clients ranging from individual litigants to insurers and public bodies. She is regularly instructed by the NHS Central Legal Office. She has extensive experience of high value personal injury claims including those involving catastrophic brain injuries. In the area of clinical negligence, she regularly acts in multi-million pound claims, including cerebral palsy cases. She is currently instructed in the UK and Scottish Covid-19 Inquiries, and the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, representing NHS National Services Scotland. In 2023, Una was leading counsel for the respondent, and presented the oral submissions in the Supreme Court, in McCulloch and others (Appellants) v Forth Valley Health Board (Respondent) [2023] UKSC 26. During the hearing, the Court described this as the most important clinical negligence appeal in years. The Court refused the appeal.
She was an Ad Hoc Advocate Depute from 2013 to 2023, and in that role prosecuted criminal cases in the High Court.
She was a Legal Assessor to the General Teaching Council of Scotland from 2017 to 2021, advising panels on questions of law and procedure in Fitness to Teach proceedings.
In 2017, she completed an International Arbitration Law course, and was a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators from 2017 to 2021.
Una took silk in 2018.
In 2020, Una qualified as a mediator.
In 2021, Una was appointed as a Legally Qualified Chair by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). In that role Una chairs panels with social service and lay members to decide whether workers’ fitness to practise is impaired.
Recent selected cases:
Confidentiality prohibits the details of the numerous claims which have settled without recourse to the courts or in the course of proof.
Stephen Bell
Stephen Bell called in 1996 after 13 years in practice as a solicitor during which he was a litigation partner in firms in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. He has a wide ranging civil practice, including family law (both financial provision and child law), commercial law and reparation. He is regularly instructed in professional negligence cases, including medical negligence. He acts for and against private individuals and corporations. He also has experience of acting for and against local authorities, particularly in adoption applications. He provides written advice on a wide variety of matters.
Robert Howie KC
Robert Howie KC was admitted as an advocate in 1986. He took silk in 2000. He has been involved in a large number of adjudications as Counsel, legal adviser or adjudicator. He has also acted as the Court’s reporter in several petition cases including Earl of Balfour, Petitioner 2003 SC (HL) 1 and Chisholm, Petitioner 2006 SLT 394. He regularly appears in the Inner and Outer Houses of the Court of Session. He has appeared in the Sheriff Court, the Lands Tribunal and in several Arbitrations. Robert Howie has also led in the House of Lords and the UK Supreme Court.
Robert Howie KC is ranked in the current edition of Chambers and Partners under 4 areas of practice. In Construction Law he is described as “A really great lawyer who is deserving of his great reputation and an opponent to be reckoned with… He is very good at marshalling and dealing with legal arguments.” He is also ranked in Chambers and Partners for Insolvency described as being “very commercially and tactically minded… His advice is always first-class, clear, well thought out and supported by detailed knowledge of case law.” Under Commercial Dispute Resolution “His thoroughness and knowledge are second to none… He is one of the cleverest advocates at the Scottish Bar. He’s near the top of the pile in terms of quality commercial work.” And under Professional Negligence “He has an amazing ability to come up with a left-field argument… He is very bright, very able and an inventive thinker.”
Louise Milligan
Louise Milligan has extensive advocacy experience specialising in personal injury litigation. She acts for pursuers and defenders in many cases involving personal injury and medical negligence. Prior to the Bar, Louise qualified as a solicitor in both Scotland and New South Wales in Australia. She also holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Edinburgh University. In addition, Louise has over 20 years advocacy experience including Inner and Outer House and Sheriff Court appearances in motions, proofs, jury trials, procedure rolls and reclaiming motions.