Background:
Chrissie has both a BSc (Hons) in Biological Science from the University of Birmingham and an LLB in Law from the University of Law. Her passion for law and science led her to a career in clinical negligence and personal injury law at the UK’s largest law firm, Irwin Mitchell, where she trained for two years and ultimately qualified as a solicitor in 2015.
During her career, Chrissie represented victims of a wide range of injuries including orthopaedic, spinal, brain, maxillofacial and fatal injuries. She developed a particular niche in cases involving cosmetic surgery and she has experience in the full spectrum of procedures including breast surgery, abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), liposuction, rhinoplasty, facelift, weight loss surgery and BBL. Several of Chrissie’s cases are recognised as leading cases in the field of cosmetic surgery, in particular the case of Clarke v Kalecinski which involved significant injury following a breast augmentation procedure and Mann v Towarzystwo where the victim sadly died following an abdominoplasty.
Chrissie was Highly Commended at the prestigious Law Society Excellence Awards in 2018 and 2019 for her work in this area and won the Solicitor of the Year award at the Birmingham Law Society Awards in 2019. She was also recognised in The Legal500 as “one to watch”.
Recently, Chrissie has been campaigning for increased patient safety for British citizens travelling abroad for cosmetic procedures, particularly in Turkey. She has contributed to the Government’s discussions with the Turkish authorities with the aim of aligning standards of care and she regularly utilises her large social media platform to raise awareness of the dangers of medical tourism.
Alongside her work, Chrissie has invested significant time in supporting and mentoring the next generation of lawyers and she has worked closely with the regulator to design and implement the new SQE route to solicitor qualification which aims to make the profession more accessible and promote social mobility. She regularly speaks at events and conferences on topics relating to the legal ecosystem including innovation, education, talent and culture. She has also contributed to numerous papers, articles and podcasts on these themes and is regarded as an industry thought leader.
Areas of expertise:
Cosmetic surgery and beauty, weight loss surgery, brain injury, fatal accidents, international clinical negligence and medical tourism claims.
