Rosalie Snocken

As set out about above, Roz has been instructed in many different types of employment and discrimination claims, dealing with a wide variety of statutory provisions. Appearing in Employment Tribunals almost every week and very often for multiple days, Roz has experience of dealing with final hearings ranging from 1 to 10 days in length.

It is not just Employment Tribunal matters that Roz has appeared in. She has also been instructed in hearings in the Court of Appeal and before the EAT, including an appeal against an order of the Registrar and Rule 3 (10) hearings, as well as being led in full hearings (such as Lofty v Hamis and Bamieh v EULEX & Ors). She has undertaken various High Court work including representing a Claimant in a claim for breach of contract pleaded at over £200,000 and acting as junior to Ben Cooper QC in the Police Overtime Claims Litigation. Roz has also represented the Defendant in an application hearing before the High Court in a claim arising out of employment, where there were also associated Employment Tribunal proceedings and assisted in some of the blacklisting High Court litigation, including drafting Claimant specific particulars of claim and collating losses information.

Roz represents both Claimants and Respondents. She has significant experience representing both Claimants who are assisted by a Union and those who are pursuing the claim on a private basis. She is very familiar with representing small businesses and large organisations alike and understands the different considerations arising from representing private companies and public bodies, including NHS Trusts.

It is not only advocacy work that Roz undertakes and she regularly completes written work in employment matters. She has experience of: drafting grounds of complaint and grounds of response; producing lists of issues; advising on liability and quantum in employment matters, as well as drawing on her experience of writing opinions in personal injury matters; drafting witness statements including in claims concerning equal pay, unfair dismissal and disability discrimination (including impact statements where the question of whether the Claimant is disabled is in dispute); and formulating applications to the Tribunal.

Since Roz undertakes a mixed practice, she is able to draw upon her experience in personal injury matters where this crosses into the employment realm, particularly in those cases concerning stress or harassment for example.

Roz is also keen to accept instructions in cases involving discrimination in a non-employment context.

Roz was previously co-author of the Westlaw Insight articles on deductions from wages, holiday pay, and gratuities and tips.

Roz is regularly instructed in a wide variety of personal injury claims, on behalf of Claimants and Defendants, for both advocacy and written work.

Roz’s experience covers the following types of claims:

• Road traffic claims, including claims by/against drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians;
• Highway s41 failure to maintain and nuisance claims;
• Occupiers’ liability and defective premises matters;
• Accidents at work and other employer’s liability claims (including those related to upper limb disorders and other manual handling matters);
• Industrial disease claims (including involving noise-induced hearing loss, COSHH, HAVS, asthma and repetitive strain conditions);
• Claims involving harassment, discrimination and/or stress at work (for which Roz is able to draw on her knowledge derived from her employment practice;
• Product liability matters;
• Claims by pupils against schools/local authorities;
• Military claims.

As set out above, Roz has experience of appearing in a varied range of courts and different hearings. In addition she has a busy paperwork practice involving:

• Drafting all types of civil pleadings including particulars of claim, defences, requests and answers to requests for further information and Part 35 questions to experts;
• Advising on witness statements (and drafting statements for cases in which she is not instructed as an advocate);
• Providing written opinions on liability and quantum, both for use at approval hearings and more generally;
• Producing schedules of special damages for both small- and large-value claims, drawing on her particular strength in maths and also from her involvement in cases whilst a paralegal as well as from experience gained since joining the Bar.

Roz also has a particular interest in catastrophic cases including those involving brain injuries. She is keen to continue building her PI practice by being led in order to gain further exposure to high-value, complex cases.

Roz is regularly involved in Criminal Injuries Compensation matters. She has been successful at the FTT in both eligibility and quantum hearings. Roz also assisted Ben Collins QC in the preparation for the Supreme Court case of Jones v FTT [2013] UKSC 19; [2013] 2 AC 48.

Roz is keen to develop her growing clinical negligence practice. She has been instructed in cases concerning the alleged negligent failure by a GP to correctly diagnose and treat pneumonia, treatment of a foot and toe injury by a hospital, allegedly failing to avoid the death of a young man admitted to A&E and ITU following a significant overdose, treatment following a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the performance of a rhinoplasty, delay by two GPs in referring a patient for surgery to remove a foreign body from his leg, and deployment of a marine with lichen planus.

Roz also has experience in dental cases, for example concerning the negligent performance by a dentist of a crown removal and replacement.

Roz also draws on experience with dealing with healthcare matters more generally through her work in the Employment Tribunals, hearings before healthcare regulators and at inquests where there is concern over the medical care that was given to the deceased.

Roz is also able to draw on her knowledge from dealing with high-value brain injury cases meaning that she has experience of dealing with complex causation issues, medical experts and large schedules including significant care and accommodation claims.

Roz has experience of inquests having been instructed both by family members of the deceased and other interested persons. Inquests that Roz has been involved in have been about the deaths of occupants of a hot air balloon, death due to pneumonia (in the context of a potential clinical negligence claim for delay in diagnosing pulmonary fibrosis), death due to mesothelioma but also considering the care received at hospital when admitted as an emergency due to heart problems, death following an overdose and deaths due to RTCs. She has dealt with a variety of issues at pre-inquest review hearings including whether it should be an article 2 inquest, disclosure, whether there should be a jury and the need for experts. In 2017, Roz attended a specialist inquest training day, helping to develop her ability to represent interested persons even further. Roz is also able to draw on her personal injury experience particularly where there is a potential civil claim that may be affected by the outcome of the inquest.

Roz undertakes a broad range of work in employment law and is keen to develop her practice in the area of professional discipline in particular. In one case Roz was instructed to represent a paramedic at a fitness to practise hearing at the HCPC in relation to allegations that he pushed a patient and did not offer assistance. She has also represented a midwife at a 5-day fitness to practise hearing at the NMC concerning failure to provide basic care and allegations of dishonesty on 3 separate occasions. Another fitness to practise hearing Roz was instructed in concerned a consultant clinical psychologist who was accused of dishonesty and misconduct arising from undertaking private work whilst signed off sick from her NHS position. Roz also has experience of interim order hearings. For example, in one recent case Roz represented the Registrant at an interim order hearing concerning a midwife alleged to have falsified medical records. In another case she represented a midwife who had failed to successfully complete a LSAPP. In addition, she has represented Registrants at review hearing, concerning both interim and final orders. She also has experience of representing NHS Trusts in disciplinary matters and has worked on cases involving a range of medical professionals. Her experience in matters concerning the disciplining of professionals also extends to the education sector, including a FTP hearing before the Education Workforce Council and the police. In addition she has been involved in several injunction applications.

As well as having a clinical negligence practice (see separate entry) Roz has also been involved in professional negligence cases involving non-healthcare professionals.

Roz is keen to attract instructions in costs disputes, particularly arising out of personal injury matters. She has experience of appearing in costs proceedings as well as dealing with costs as one of the issues in a more general hearing.

Roz also finds her experience as a paralegal invaluable when dealing with costs matters as it gives her additional familiarity and knowledge of producing costs schedules, time recording and tasks undertaken by solicitors.

Roz also accepts instructions in general civil litigation matters. She has significant expertise in contractual matters. She has also successfully represented a website company in a case concerning whether there was tortious liability where a consumer had purchased goods from a third party using the Defendant’s website (see our technology, media and telecommunications sector) . She has also appeared in several matters concerning property damage, including to electricity cables and arising from water damage in a flat. Roz has often appeared in cases concerning credit hire (see our insurance sector). Recently Roz represented the Defendant in a (remote) trial about whether payments made to him by an ex-girlfriend were gifts (conditional or unconditional) or loans and was successful in reducing what was to be repaid down to approximately ¼ of what had been claimed.

• Junior in the case of Bamieh v EULEX & Ors (in both the Court of Appeal and EAT) concerning jurisdictional issues, including questions of legal personality and also the territorial reach of the whistleblowing provisions in claims against co-workers. (FCO & Ors v Bamieh [2019] EWCA Civ 803; [2019] 5 WLUK 102; [2019] IRLR 736)
• Representing the Claimant (at CCMC, drafting and advising) in a multi-track claim arising out of an accident whilst at work on a ship.
• Police Overtime Claims Litigation– Junior in High Court litigation involving multiple claims brought by hundreds of police officers regarding overtime and other types of payments led by Ben Cooper QC representing the sergeants and inspectors.
• Representing the Claimant at a judicial mediation in a claim for unfair redundancy and disability discrimination at which agreement was successfully reached.
• At a remote trial conducted through Skype, representing the Defendant in a claim for repayment of monies said by the Claimant to be loans but asserted to be a gifts by the Defendant.
• Advising a group of Pilots in their collective dispute as to the interpretation of a contractual term relating to pay together with subsequently drafting the Grounds of Complaint and representing those Claimants whose claims were not settled in ongoing litigation.
• Representing the Defendant in a personal injury highways claim arising out of an accident on the Isle of Man.
• Junior reviewing documentation relating to the “special circumstances” defence in group claims for protective awards arising out of the collapse of Carillion Plc and associated companies – assisting Melanie Tether.
• Advising Claimants in personal injury claims arising out of road traffic collisions, including one on the motorway involving allegations of contributory negligence against a passenger and another involving a collision with a pedestrian following a string of earlier altercations.
• Junior in the EAT case of Lofty v Hamis concerning the cancer “deemed disability” provisions in the Equality Act 2010. (Lofty v Hamis t/a First Cafe [2018] 1 WLUK 231; [2018] IRLR 512).
• Representing the Respondent (a well-known bank) in defending a 7-day ET hearing on claims of race discrimination, sex discrimination, whistleblowing and constructive unfair dismissal.
• Representing the Claimant in high-value High Court litigation arising out of breach of contract.
• Representing the Claimant in a claim against the Met Police in claims of disability discrimination, indirect sex discrimination and part-time worker discrimination.
• 5-day remedy hearing (against a QC and junior counsel) for two Claimants who had suffered serious psychiatric injury due to indirect sex discrimination (following previously successfully representing the Claimants at a 10-day liability hearing involving matters of national security necessitating a mixed public and private final hearing).
• Advising a college lecturer and then representing her in fitness to practise proceedings before the Education Workforce Council.

• Territorial jurisdiction in whistle blowing claims brought against co-workers
• Rosalie Snocken successful in front of Education Workforce Council Fitness to Practice Committee
• ‘Pre-cancerous’ condition was deemed disability under the EqA