Andrea Barnes 

Joint Head of Chambers
Barrister | Mediator
Year of call: 1999

“Thorough and on the ball with a great sense of perspective Andi is technically excellent and always incredibly well prepared. A very accomplished and safe pair of hands, she consistently provides a sterling service”

Martine Delaney

Keoghs Solicitors

“Andrea’s costs knowledge is second to none. She is a fearless and tenacious advocate”

Paying party costs draftsperson

“Andrea was a calming presence in what started as an acrimonious mediation but ultimately resulted in an amicable resolution”

Defendant solicitor

Clinical negligence dispute 2016

About Andrea

Andrea is a tenacious and enthusiastic advocate. She undertakes a mixture of costs, clinical negligence, personal injury and inquest work.

Andrea was Head of Costs at her previous chambers and is now joint Head of Chambers.

Andrea is an international mediator and trainer in facilitative and evaluative mediation. Whilst a large proportion of her clinical, dental and personal injury practice involves high value, complex, catastrophic or fatal incidents Andrea is equally happy to assist on lower value matters.

Andrea has a proactive and reasoned approach to any work she undertakes. She is plain speaking, commercially astute and is not afraid to advance complex or unusual legal arguments.

A high standard of work is applied to any work Andrea undertakes; preparing diligently and working closely with lay and professional clients alike to achieve the best outcomes. She strives to maintain an excellent working relationship with her clients with emphasis on communication and is regularly commended for her approachable and collaborative manner.

Prior to Call Andrea initially gained 4 years’ experience in fatal and catastrophic injuries whilst working at renowned Defendant insurer solicitors Davies Arnold Cooper (now part of DAC Beachcroft). She has also acted as consultant to a leading insurer on “ways to minimize financial leakage in personal injury and clinical negligence claims”. In 2015 Andrea carried out an extensive analysis of the costs market post-Jackson reforms for a leading private equity initiative. She currently specialises in complex costs issues.

Andrea has mediated over 50 disputes with over 90% settling on the day or within 3 days of mediation. Andrea has an approximate 70:30 split of Claimant/Defendant personal injury and clinical negligence work and an approximate 40:60 split of Receiving Party/Paying Party legal costs work.

Approved for the following panels:

Medical Protection Society (Costs Panel)
Public Access Accredited

Practice areas

Clinical negligence

Andrea has particular expertise in:-

• Allegations of failure to investigate, diagnose or treat
• Maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology with a particular specialism in neonate deaths
• General practice and ambulance trust cases
• Surgical issues
• Infection cases in particular neonate and infant infection cases
• Neurological issues such as sub-arachnoid haemorrhage and PCOS malformation
• Cardiovascular and cardiothoracic cases
• Dental issues

Personal injury

Andrea has particular expertise in:-

• Industrial/occupational disease
• Road Traffic Accidents in particular motorcycle and cycle collisions
• Occupiers’ liability
• Employer’s liability
• Public liability
• Product liability
• Highways

Costs

Andrea has particular expertise in:-

• High-value costs disputes
• Issue-based costs arguments
• Joint and several liability costs arguments
• Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008
• Repudiatory and repudiated contracts
• Statutory interpretation
• ATE issues pre and post-Jackson
• Success fee issues pre-Jackson
• Capacity issues relevant to retainers
• Non-party costs orders

Andrea is a door tenant at Complete Counsel.

Personal

Andrea is married with two children. She has a passion for extreme sports and you can usually find her rock climbing, sky diving, quad biking or similar on a weekend. She loves to travel and is also a keen cook. She is currently a co-opted Governor, a Director of Trust Mediation, an international mediation trainer and a peer mediation co-ordinator trainer.

EQUALITY | EXCELLENCE | EQUITY