Jemma Lee

Jemma is clerked primarily by Lee Johnson, Clare Sabido, Jennifer Pooler and Emma Bell.

Experience and Expertise

Jemma has a broad practice across all areas of healthcare. She regularly appears in the County Court, High Court, Coroners’ Court and Court of Protection acting for individual claimants or family members, NHS Trusts, CCG’s, private healthcare providers, individual professionals and local authorities. Her broad healthcare practice allows her to build a deeper medical understanding across a range of disciplines that is beneficial in more complex cases. Her inquest practice overlaps with her civil practice and she is often instructed in any civil claim that arises following an inquest allowing continuity of counsel. She similarly is able to draw on her Court of Protection practice in inquests where an individual has died whilst subject to deprivation of liberty safeguards.

PUBLICATIONS

• Contributed towards the fourth edition of Medical Treatment: Decisions and the Law (2022)
  Jemma co-authored chapter two: Consent & Capacity – Adults 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.
• Medical law reports
• Legal researcher for Lewis & Buchan Clinical Negligence: A practical guide
• Co-editor of the Serjeants’ Inn UK Healthcare Law Blog

Articles

Jemma has reported on the following recent cases for The Medical Law Reports.

• Morahan v HM Coroner 4 West London [2021] EWHC 1603 (Admin) [2021] Med LR 465 Judicial review – Inquests – Article 2 – Enhanced investigative duty – Positive operational duty – Voluntary patients – Real and immediate risk to life – Accidental death – Vulnerable individuals.
• R (Smith) v HM Assistant Coroner for NW Wales [2020] EWHC 781 (Admin) [2020] Med LR 358 Judicial review – Inquests – Causation – Standard of Proof – Experts – Neglect – Failings in care – Conclusions – Mental health – Suicide.
• Sakandar Azam v Uni Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust [2020] EWHC 3384 (QB) MLR 2021 06 [2021] Med LR 150 Limitation – Preliminary issues – Discretion to disapply limitation – Evidential burden – Cogency of evidence – Death of a witness – Delay in bringing proceedings – Judicial discretion
• R (Lewis) v Senior Coroner for North West Kent [2020] EWHC 471 (Admin) citation Judicial review – Inquests –Malnutrition – Neglect – Failings in care – Summing-up – Conclusions left to jury – Gailbraith
• Barry v Cardiff & Vale University Local Health Board [2019] — Clinical negligence – breach of duty – causation – the “but for” test – delay in performing procedure – assessment of damages
  
• Surrey v Barnet & Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 451 – Costs – proportionality – funding arrangements – conditional fee agreements – legal aid certificates – LASPO
  
• Thefaut v Johnson [2017] EWHC 497 Consent – clinical negligence – breach of duty – causation – medical treatment – insufficiency of evidence – expert evidence – impartiality – lay witnesses – witness summons
• XYZ v Warrington & Halton NHS Foundation Trust [2016] EWHC 33(QB) [2016] Med LR 147Psychiatric injury – Clinical negligence – Breach of duty – Causation – Consent – credibility of witnesses.
• LAT v East Somerset NHS Trust [2016] EWHC 1610 (QB) [2016] Med LR 438 Interim payments – CPR Part 25.7 – Accommodation costs – Clinical negligence – Protected parties – Injury during neonatal period – Stay of proceedings.
• Al-Mishlab v Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust [2015] EWHC 191 (QB) [2015] Med LR 120
• In the matter of C (A Child) [2015] EWFC 79 [2015] Med LR 531Confidential information – Medical records – Patient confidentiality – Expert evidence – Disclosure of medical data – Professional obligations – Disciplinary proceedings.
• IM v LM [2014] EWCA Civ 37 [2014] Med LR 345 Court of Protection – Sexual relations – Capacity – Consent – Best interests – Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Re X (Deprivation of Liberty) (no 2) [2014] EWCOP 37 [2014] Med LR 545 Court of Protection – Deprivation of liberty – Protected party – Representation.

recommendations

Jemma is recommended by Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 for clinical negligence and is described as “great on her feet and fantastic in negotiations”. Other recent editorial includes:

• exceptionally detail-orientated but still able to get to the crux of the issue;
• she is up there with the very best barristers when it comes to client care;
• Jemma is an excellent senior junior;
• focused and clear providing advice and advocacy;
• she can explain complex issues in a clear way to clients;
• great to work with and liked instantly by lay clients;
• an excellent barrister;
• approachable, highly appealing, no-nonsense style;
• excellent teamwork skills;
• a very talented junior with a wealth of knowledge
• her client care skills are excellent;
• she provides excellent written work;
• Jemma has excellent client care -she is extremely apt at handling difficult conversations sensitively and explaining difficult concepts in an easy to understand way;
• excellent attention to detail;
• great client care skills;
• she maintains a calming, down to earth approach even in the most trying of scenarios; informed by excellent technical knowledge;
• really personable;
• Jemma is a very bright and incisive barrister with a clear sense of a case and the issues;
• approachable, reliable, thorough and knowledgeable;
• she combines great advocacy skills with relentless attention to detail in her preparation and paperwork and is also warm and approachable with clients;
• Jemma is knowledgeable, accessible and detailed; and
• an ability to get straight to the issues of the case that is beyond her year of call.

scholarships

• Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
• Lord Wolfson Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn
• Lord Hardwicke Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn

education

• Bar Vocational Course, BPP Law School, Very Competent.
• First Class Honours in Law from University of Warwick

Privacy

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

further information

For further details of Jemma’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: 57636
Registered Name: Jemma Louise Lee
VAT Registration No: 151 2652 37