Kara Loraine

Kara has experience of representing individuals and organisations on issues of restrictive covenants, contractual bonus arrangements, and terms and conditions of employment. She has also recently been involved in an insurance claim involving issues of compliance with Financial Conduct Authority rules and UCTA.

Kara is establishing a significant clinical negligence practice undertaking a broad spectrum of work acting on behalf of Claimants and Defendants. She acts at all stages of a case, from inquest to final hearing, and brings a successful combination of effective advocacy and tactical awareness. She regularly advises in writing or in conference and can draft pleadings at short notice where necessary.

Kara has experience of a wide variety of claims including those involving delays in diagnosis and misdiagnosis, complex orthopaedic injuries and gastrointestinal injuries, hospital acquired infections, dental negligence and psychiatric illness (including somatoform and pain disorders). She is familiar with complex issues of liability and causation and is regularly involved in high-value claims involving experts in multiple disciplines.

She represents families, NHS Trusts and individual healthcare professionals at inquests.

Kara is willing to accept instructions on a CFA.

Recent cases include:

• BK: Inquest representing high-profile individuals in a case involving allegations of failure to correctly categorise urgency of caesarean which may have contributed to the child’s death. Case adjourned pending investigation into evidence that lawyers for the hospital had altered a witness statement.
• B: Inquest involving allegations of negligent emergency care by paramedics and delay in diagnosing critical injuries following an RTA.
• M: Claim for negligent dental treatment on behalf of a child including a claim for provisional damages.
• J: Inquest representing NHS employee facing allegations of negligence in failing to prevent a suicide.

Kara has experience of a broad range of costs cases including costs budgeting. She regularly represents paying parties and receiving parties in complex and high-value costs cases and detailed assessments of costs.

Kara has huge experience of a range of employment law claims. She represents trade unions, large commercial and business organisation, public authorities, health service bodies and practitioners, higher education institutions and claimants with high-value or complex claims.

Kara practises across the range of employment cases.

She is frequently instructed in complex and high-value discrimination claims and has particular expertise experience of complex discrimination claims (often involving elements of personal injury compensation or concurrent county/high court proceedings), multi-claimant cases including equal pay claims in both the NHS and local authorities, collective consultation and redundancy disputes (particularly in the context of TUPE transfers) and costs.

Kara also appears regularly in claims concerning whistleblowing, TUPE, restraint of trade and all kinds of dismissals. She has recently been involved in cases concerning minimum wage, including multi-claimant cases and claims in the care sector. She also has experience in the operation of the Working Time Directive (in particular in relation to holiday pay) and has presented a LexisNexis webinar on the topic.

Kara is experienced in conducting independent internal investigations into discrimination complaints.

Her experience of high-value personal injury claims is invaluable in dealing with complex issues on remedy, in particular in cases involving personal injury compensation and claims for long-term loss of earnings. Kara is skilled in dealing with large claims for future losses.

Kara has a particular expertise in costs applications in the employment tribunals and has regularly succeeded in obtaining significant costs awards for her clients.

Kara also has experience as junior counsel in several high-value multi-party claims including equal pay, holiday pay and claims against trade unions.

In addition to her first-instance work Kara has regularly been instructed in the EAT, with recent instructions including cases of trade union-related dismissals and appeals against interlocutory decisions.

Kara is available to represent interested parties at inquests and has particular experience of representing medical professionals where questions of clinical care are in issue. Her employment practice is particularly valuable where issues of conduct arise.

Recent cases include:

• BK: Inquest representing high-profile individuals in a case involving allegations of failure to correctly categorise urgency of caesarean which may have contributed to the child’s death. Case adjourned pending investigation into evidence that lawyers for the hospital had altered a witness statement.
• B:Inquest involving allegations of negligent emergency care by paramedics and delay in diagnosing critical injuries following an RTA.
• J:Inquest representing NHS employee facing allegations of negligence in failing to prevent a suicide.

Kara has experience appearing before Magistrates’ Courts in motoring cases. She also has extensive experience of personal injury claims arising road traffic accidents and is therefore particularly able to assist in cases involving concurrent prosecution and personal injury actions.

Kara has broad experience of dealing with personal injury claims. Kara’s personal injury practice includes regular instructions from both claimants and defendants in complex and high-value multi-track claims in the High Court and County Court.

She has extensive experience across a broad spectrum of personal injury claims including employer’s liability (encompassing all aspects of industrial disease as well as accident claims), high-value road traffic accident cases and public liability. She has particular expertise in cases involving overlapping personal injury and employment/discrimination issues.

She regularly represents clients in multi-track trials as well as a wide range of preliminary hearings including case and costs management hearings, strike out and summary judgment applications, issues of jurisdiction and limitation and applications in relation to expert evidence.

Kara also has substantial experience in employment and discrimination law and therefore has particular expertise in dealing with mixed employment and personal injury cases arising out of stress, harassment and/or discrimination in the workplace.

Kara is a member of PIBA.

Kara regularly advises and represents practitioners in relation to professional conduct proceedings. She has significant experience of a wide range of cases including those involving the most serious criminal allegations and represents clients at all stages of proceedings.

She practices across the full range of disciplinary disputes and is available to appear at internal disciplinary proceedings, before regulatory bodies and in High Court challenges to the decisions of employers and regulators.

• X, HCPC. Succeeded in obtaining a conditions of practice order that allows the self-employed client to continue in clinical practice pending the resolution of disputed allegations of serious sexual misconduct.
• Burdett v Pennons Ltd, High Court. Representing the Defendant in an alleged multimillion pound complex multi-track personal injury claim.
• Mullarkey v Magrath LLP. high-value disability discrimination claim involving multiple alleged disabilities and claims for personal injury with complex issues of causation.

• Appointments to the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel
• Knowing the risks – forseeability of stress related illness in the time of Covid-19
• Employment Breakfast Seminar – Protected Disclosure & The Minimum Wage