Simon Beard

Year called:

1980

Email:

simonbeard@ropewalk.co.uk

Qualifications:

MA Law, Jesus College, Oxford; ALCM (Speech and Drama), Accredited Mediator

Practice areas:

Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence, Disease, Fraudulent Claims, Regulatory, Costs, Mediation

Simon Beard was called to the Bar in 1980.  He is an Accredited Mediator.

He is a specialist in personal injury, clinical negligence, disease, fraudulent claims, regulatory and costs cases.

Personal Injury

He is an experienced personal injury practitioner, having worked extensively in this field for many years.  He acts for both Claimants and Defendants in all areas of personal injury and Fatal Accident litigation, including high value claims, workplace injuries and appeals: Clarke v South Yorkshire Transport Ltd [1998] P.I.Q.R. Q104 (appeal on quantum); Piggott v Aulton (Deceased) [2003] R.T.R. 36 (appeal on procedure and limitation pre Horton v Sadler).

He is a member of the Personal Injuries Bar Association.

Clinical Negligence

He has extensive experience in clinical negligence and has represented and advised Claimants in numerous actions against NHS Hospital Trusts, GPs and individual doctors working in the private sector.

He has also acted for NHS Trusts in defence of claims and represented families at Inquests arising out of medical errors.

He is a member, and past President, of the Nottinghamshire Medico-Legal Society, a member of the Professional Negligence Bar Association and interested in the work of AvMA.

Disease

He has extensive experience of NIHL, asbestos and other lung diseases, asthma, HAVS, WRULD and stress claims.

He has represented Defendants in numerous preliminary issue trials of limitation, particularly in disease cases.

He was Junior Counsel for the Defendants in three of the lead cases in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Deafness Litigation, tried in the autumn of 2006, and involved in the Appeal in Baker v Quantum Clothing, firstly to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court.

Recent cases have involved contested trials of VWF/HAVS claims, NIHL claims, fatal and non fatal injuries arising out of asbestos exposures from the 1950's to the 1980's (e.g. Beesley v New Century Group [2008] EWHC 3033) and bladder cancer following chemical exposure in the 1960's. He is regularly involved in directions and ‘show cause’ hearings in asbestos litigation such as Craig v Carillion Construction (Contracts) Ltd (2010) – before the Senior Master.

He was counsel for the Defendants at first instance, and junior counsel on appeal, in the first provisional damages case to reach the Court of Appeal - Hurditch v Sheffield H.A. [1989] Q.B. 562 (asbestos).

He was junior Counsel for the Defendants in the House of Lords in Jameson v CEGB [2000] 1 A.C. 455 (mesothelioma).

He represented the Defendants in Coxall v Goodyear Great Britain Ltd [2003] 1 WLR 536 (breach of duty in allowing employee to continue in work causing asthma).

Fraudulent Claims

He has acted for Defendants in a variety of fraudulent claims including those arising from staged, induced and fabricated road accidents, as well as in cases involving consciously exaggerated injuries resulting from genuine accidents, where the use of surveillance evidence has been important.