Claire Watson KC

Experience and expertise

Claire has specialised in healthcare and police law for over 20 years and has been consistently recognised as a leading practitioner in the fields of clinical negligence, inquests and inquiries, Court of Protection, police law and professional discipline and regulatory law.

Claire has built an impressive reputation in the field of clinical negligence and inquests and inquiries appearing in a wide variety cases, in particular those which are legally and technically complex and cases with particular sensitivity.  She is known for her skill in cases involving novel points of law such as the ground-breaking case of Whittington v XX, in which she represented the successful claimant at all stages of the case up to the Supreme Court, and R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde in which the court clarified the Article 2 obligations in community and healthcare settings.

Claire is also regularly instructed in challenging cases in the Court of Protection and the Family Division of the High Court, including those concerning end of life care, disputes over capacity, welfare decisions, property and affairs and matters that engage the Human Rights Act.  She frequently advises on medical treatment cases, cases which involve difficult points of law and cases raising human rights issues, such as Re X (A chid) (No 2), Dance v Barts Health NHS Trust (Archie Battersbee) and EF v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.  Claire  is instructed on behalf of Trusts, ICBs and private healthcare providers, as well as the Official Solicitor and family members.

Her practice encompasses all types of disciplinary proceedings in which she has a wealth of experience representing healthcare professionals and appropriate authorities in police misconduct proceedings.  In addition to her extensive experience of civil actions against the police , Claire undertakes a wide range of advisory work and has a particular interest in advising the police on operational and policy matters.

CASES AND WORK OF NOTE

Claire has appeared in a number of notable cases:

• A London NHS Trust v DT (By her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) [2025] EWCOP 36 (T3): Claire appeared on behalf of DT through her litigation friend the Official Solicitor in this highly sensitive case in which the Vice President of the Court of Protection declared that it was in DT’s best interests to be repatriated to her home country to undergo brain stem testing.
• KP (Termination of Pregnancy) [2025] EWCOP 35 (T3): This case concerned KP’s capacity to decide whether to terminate or continue her pregnancy and to consent to a contraceptive implant.  The court concluded that KP lacked capacity and granted the Trust’s application declaring it lawful for KP to undergo a surgical termination of her pregnancy and to have a subdermal contraceptive implant inserted.  Claire was instructed by the applicant NHS Trust.
• Inquest into the death of Bonnie Newton (2025): Claire appeared on behalf of a private mental health provider in this complex Article 2 jury inquest concerning the death of a young woman who was detained under the Mental Health Act. Claire successfully argued that unlawful killing should not be left to the jury and the jury returned a narrative conclusion.
• Prescott-Brann v Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and another [2024] EWHC 3314 (KB): Claire appeared on behalf of the Second Defendant in this successful appeal by the Claimant against a case management decision of Master Eastman refusing permission to rely on an alternative expert.
• EF v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [2024] EWHC 3004 (Fam): Claire was instructed by the HFEA in this application for a declaration permitting the posthumous use of an embryo created with EF’s sperm and his late wife’s eggs in treatment with a surrogate. The court granted the application and held that Schedule 3 HFEA 1990 should be read down to introduce an implied discretion for the court to accept evidence of consent provided other than in writing where a failure to do so would result in a breach of Article 8.
• G v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [2024] EWHC 2453 (Fam): The President of the Family Division refused to make a declaration permitting the mother of a woman who died from breast cancer to use her deceased daughter’s frozen eggs in treatment with a surrogate. The court held that G’s Article 8 rights were not engaged on the facts of the case and the court’s jurisdiction to intervene under the Human Rights Act did not arise.  Claire appeared on behalf of the HFEA.
• RE PC [2024] EWCA Civ 895: Claire was instructed by the Official Solicitor on behalf of PC in this appeal against the decision of the Court of Protection that it was no longer in her best interested to continue to receive clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH).
• UK Covid 19 Inquiry (2022-2023): Claire was instructed on behalf of a Welsh Health Board to advise and assist in the preparation for Modules 2B, 3 and 5 of the Inquiry, which is examining the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems in the four nations of the UK. She was leading Oliver Williamson and Anthony Searle.
• St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Casey & Ors [2023] EWCA Civ 1092: Mr Casey’s life was tragically cut short when he was assaulted in a pub garden and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. A diagnosis of death was made following brain stem testing in hospital but this was not accepted by Mr Casey’s family.  An application was therefore made to the High Court for declaration of death, which was granted by MacDonald J.  Mr Casey’s family sought permission to appeal which was refused by the Court of Appeal.  Claire appeared on behalf of the Official Solicitor who appeared as Advocate to the Court.
• VA, Re (Medical Treatment) [2023] EWCA Civ 1190: Claire was instructed by the Official Solicitor on behalf of VA, a 78-year-old woman, in an application for permission to appeal against an order made by the Court of Protection that it was in VA’s best interests to undergo extubation and the provision of palliative care in accordance with a care and treatment plan prepared by the treating team at the hospital where she is being looked after.
• Hinduja v Hinduja & Ors [2022] EWCOP 36: Claire appeared on behalf of a private hospital in an application to lift a Reporting Restrictions Order made by the Official Solicitor in long-running Court of Protection proceedings concerning the health, welfare and property and affairs of Mr Srichand Parmanand Hinduja, described by Hayden J as “amongst the richest people in the United Kingdom.” The application was opposed by the family but supported by the Press Association, Bloomberg News and the Open Justice Court of Protection Project.  Claire successfully argued that the hospital should remain anonymised and the RRO was varied accordingly.
• Dance v Barts Health NHS Trust [2022] EWCA Civ 1106 and [2022] EWCA Civ1055: Claire appeared for the child in a case where he sustained a profound hypoxic ischaemic brain injury following an accident in which he was suspended from a bannister by a dressing gown cord. The High Court granted a declaration that it was in his best interests for life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn. The Court of Appeal rejected the parents’ permission to appeal.
• Whittington Hospital NHS Trust v XX [2020] UKSC 14:Claire appeared on behalf of the successful claimant in this high profile and ground breaking case, in which the Supreme Court upheld an award of damages for the cost of surrogacy for the first time in clinical negligence proceedings. The claimant had developed cervical cancer and was left infertile due to the negligent failure of the Hospital Trust to correctly report on a number of smear tests and biopsies.
• R (Maguire) v His Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde [2020] EWCA Civ 738: Claire appeared for the care home provider as an interested party in this important judicial review concerning the scope of the various procedural and substantive duties under Article 2 ECHR. The case concerned an inquest into the death of a woman with Down’s Syndrome and learning disabilities from a perforated gastric ulcer in circumstances where her family were critical of the actions of care staff and healthcare professionals in facilitating her admission to hospital when she fell ill.
• Y v A Healthcare NHS Trust [2018] EWCOP 18: Claire appeared on behalf of a hospital in this ground-breaking case in which the Court exercised powers under the Mental Capacity Act to permit a dying man’s wife to have his sperm retrieved, stored and used despite the absence of his express written consent. This is the first time that the Mental Capacity Act has been used in conjunction with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in this way.
• GMC v Dr Chandra [2017] EWHC 2556: Claire appeared for the respondent doctor in the first appeal brought by the GMC under section 40A of the Medical Act 1983 concerning a restoration decision. The doctor was erased from the Medical Register for a sexual boundary violation and for dishonesty. Almost a decade later he applied to have his name restored to the Register which was then granted. Claire successfully resisted the GMC’s appeal against the restoration decision made on the ground that was insufficient for the protection of the public.

Recommendations

Claire has been consistently recommended by the directories as a leading junior and is recommended now as a silk. She was shortlisted for the Clinical Negligence Silk of the Year Award at The Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2023. Recommended for clinical negligence, professional discipline and regulatory including police law, inquests and inquiries and Court of Protection, the current edition of the Legal 500 notes that “she is a measured and effective advocate, who is always astute and has an eye on the pragmatic points of a case.”

Claire was The Times’ Lawyer of the Week in October 2012 following her involvement in a high profile application to the Court of Protection to withhold life-saving treatment from a patient who was severely brain damaged and in a minimally conscious state
Click here for press coverage

Clients comments include, “You never let me down!”, “Many thanks for your kind support and a great job done!”, “I am extremely grateful for your skilled help and representation at the hearing…I am certain that your preparation and execution of my defence on the day was the key to a successful outcome…”; “I was impressed with the manner which you acted on my behalf being very calm, professional and just simply excellent!”

Other recent directory editorial has included the following:

Publications

Claire co-authored chapter five: Restraint, Deprivation of Liberty and chapter eleven: Fertility (2) Assisted Reproduction in the fourth edition of the book Medical Treatment: Decisions and the Law, edited by Christopher Johnston KC and Sophia Roper KC and written by 27 members of Serjeants’ Inn.

Memberships

• Professional Negligence Bar Association
• Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers
• London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association

Qualifications

1996 – 1999: St Hugh’s College, Oxford University, BA Jurisprudence
1989 – 1996: St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School

privacy

Claire adopts and adheres to the provisions of her privacy notice which can be accessed here.

further information

For further details of Claire’s practice please click on the links to the left or contact a member of the clerking or client service team.

Bar Council Membership No: 42873
Registered Name: Claire Elizabeth Watson
VAT Registration No: 802124191