Jacqueline Perry

Jacqueline Perry, KC, is a highly experienced contract and tort barrister in London. She has handed legal matters in both California and the UK since 1975, and has been involved in many high-profile, public-interest cases regarding personal injury, clinical negligence, product liability and insurance.

She is highly thought of by her professional clients, who instruct her in the sure knowledge of her thoroughness, fearlessness and sound and sensitive approach to all aspects of her work. On numerous occasions, Jacqueline has successfully pioneered arguments and points of law or practice.

She has acted for both claimants and defendants, representing local authorities and insurers, as well as receiving a significant volume of instructions from trade unions and government departments, in addition to the police and fire brigade. She has acted for claimants in group action cases arising from major disasters, including the original and recent Thalidomide claims.

She has instructed in major multi-party business and human rights matters and high-profile group actions against multinational corporations, particularly those arising from the extractive industries in Africa.

Dual-qualified (UK and California Bar) for many years, Jacqueline’s main areas of work span contract and tort. Meanwhile, she handles commercial and insurance matters, both in the UK and the US, and in recent years has practised in substantial and highly publicised cases related to product liability, professional negligence, personal injury and clinical negligence. Today, the majority of her work contains an international flavour.

As a qualified and practising Californian lawyer, Jacqueline has, over the years, consolidated her field of expertise in this jurisdiction – successfully litigating before civil juries in the California Superior Court in multimillion-dollar claims.

From the mid-nineties and continuing today, she has advised the victims of the drug Thalidomide in respect of their funding, which was required to be substantially increased. On several successful occasions, she has “taken on” Guinness PLC, then Diageo PLC, as well as HM Government. Furthermore, she has been instrumental in obtaining many millions of pounds for these claimants, as well as an apology (drafted by her) from the last Labour Government on behalf of the authorities who allowed this disaster to occur. For this matter, Jacqueline acted pro bono throughout. From the beginning of her career, she has been instructed in insurance claims ranging from motor traffic cases to municipal and local government cases, primarily on behalf of the defendant insurers. Her experience of personal injury work – combined with her many years of reading, advising upon and working with, or having to cross-examine, medical experts – made the transition to working in the field of clinical negligence an obvious crossover.