Priya is an Associate in the Shoosmiths' Serious Injury Team.
Priya acts for individuals who have suffered life changing injuries through medical negligence and the families of patients who have suffered harm due to negligent medical treatment. Priya started her career as a paralegal in a medical negligence firm in Leicester in 2017 and joined the Shoosmiths' Serious Injury Team in Birmingham after qualifying in 2022. Since then, she has worked on a variety of cases, including delays in diagnosis of cancer, surgical errors, orthopaedic injuries, fatal claims and amputation claims.
She works alongside a team of experienced specialist medical negligence solicitors and has supported the department head, Phil Barnes, on a number of complex high value claims. In 2023, Priya was involved in the Supreme Court appeal on the case of Paul v The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, in which Phil Barnes represented the Claimant in relation to secondary victim psychiatric claims in medical negligence cases. This was a landmark case to establish whether people who have witnessed a serious injury to another person due to medical negligence are entitled to bring a clam for resulting psychiatric injury. The case required specialist knowledge and skills and although the appeal was unsuccessful, it established clarity that secondary victims in such cases no longer need to prove the that the injury was caused by the mechanism of a “sudden shock to the nervous system” and was a sufficiently “horrifying event.”
Priya strives to achieve justice for her clients by getting them answers for the devastating events they have been through. She makes it her priority to understand what has happened to them and investigate their claims forensically and methodically in order to seek a successful conclusion and get her clients the closure they deserve. She provides bespoke legal advice to her clients and ensures that she understands her clients’ concerns and needs. Priya investigates her clients’ claims thoroughly and carefully and focusses on achieving the best outcome possible. In acting for Claimants, Priya advocates for patient safety so that the NHS can learn from mistakes in order to avoid further life changing injuries.