Acting for both claimants and defendants, Bronia maintains a busy advisory and court-based practice at all stages of proceedings on the fast and multi tracks.  She is regularly instructed by major insurers, public utilities and local authorities.  Since her appointment to the Attorney General’s ‘B Panel’ of Counsel, she has acted on behalf of various government departments including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, appearing in the County Court, High Court and Coroner’s Court.  She has considerable trial experience on the fast and multi tracks, as well as in interlocutory hearings and JSMs.  She is particularly experienced in drafting pleadings and advising in employers’ liability and public liability cases.  She also has significant experience in advising on matters of civil procedure.

Recent cases:

Counter-schedule and JSM in a claim against the Ministry of Defence arising out of an accident on board a vessel which ended the claimant’s naval career.

Representing the Ministry of Justice in a claim brought by a member of the EDL in relation to a serious assault by fellow prisoners.

Representing a motor insurer in a high value claim defended on grounds of exaggeration in which surveillance evidence was relied upon.

Representing a claimant in a work-related upper limb disorder case arising out the claimant’s work in a factory involving the repeated use of a staple gun.

Representing a claimant who suffered Cauda Equina Syndrome following workplace manual handling.

Representing a claimant nurse who suffered serious physical and psychiatric injuries following an assault by a patient.

Representing a claimant who suffered a partial amputation when his arm was drawn into the in-running nip of a machine.

Experience and Expertise

Bronia specialises in a complementary range of practice areas including coronial law, personal injury and public law. She has built up a substantial coronial practice, with particular expertise in healthcare provision in secure and detained settings and multi-agency working in safeguarding and child protection.

Bronia has represented a broad range of interested persons, including families as well as NHS Trusts, private healthcare providers, government departments and local authorities at inquests.  The inquests in which she is instructed frequently concern issues of neglect, unsafe discharge and community mental health provision. The vast majority of cases are lengthy, complex inquests held in satisfaction of the investigative obligations pursuant to Art 2, including deaths in custody and deaths of detained patients. Bronia also sits part time as an Assistant Coroner, conducting her own cases, including complex jury cases and deaths in hospitals.

Bronia undertakes personal injury actions on behalf of both claimants and defendants. As well as expertise in claims following inquests, Bronia has particular experience in employers’ liability claims, claims arising in a prison setting and claims under the Human Rights Act (Arts 2, 3 and 8).

Bronia is a Court Examiner by appointment of the Lord Chancellor.

Inquests

Bronia has represented:

• the Probation Service in an inquest touching the death of a 13-month-old baby murdered by her mother’s partner, involving consideration of the involvement of children’s social care, the police, an NHS foundation trust and the Probation Service in events leading up to the murder, with a particular focus on safeguarding practices and inter-agency working;
• a local authority that funded places in a private care home for adults with Korsakoff’s syndrome, a resident of which experienced fluctuating capacity and who died of hypothermia after he was allowed to leave the home in sub-zero temperatures;
• an army veteran under whose vehicle a motorcycle from which the deceased had been unseated slid and who rendered first aid on the instructions of the emergency services, including that he remove the deceased’s helmet;
• a prison healthcare provider after a prison inmate took his own life during a relapse of his Schizoaffective disorder and whose requests to restart his anti-psychotic medication had been refused;
• the family of a man who took his life following the onset of an acute psychotic episode and whose death was found to have been contributed to by missed opportunities on the part of his GP practice;
• the prison in an inquest touching the death of a prisoner identified as being at risk of suicide whose observations were not carried out in accordance with his care plan and the records of which were falsified;
• the prison in an inquest touching the death of a prisoner with epilepsy, involving the consideration of prison/healthcare cooperation in the administration of critical medications.

Appointments

Assistant Coroner Greater Manchester (West)

Court Examiner

Seminars/Lectures

Bronia is regularly invited by solicitors to provide seminars and lectures to professional and lay clients.  She is also a regular contributor to her circuit’s education programme.

Recent seminars/lectures include:

• Disclosure in inquests
• Preparing for death in custody inquests and staff welfare in the health and justice sector
• Tips and tricks for getting the most out of an inquest

Bronia has extensive experience of costs and case management hearings, particularly in complex personal injury cases. She is also experienced in detailed assessments, as well as non-party and wasted costs applications.

Bronia has extensive experience in cases where fraud and fundamental dishonesty are alleged. She is regularly instructed on behalf of major insurers in cases involving low velocity impact collisions, allegations of phantom passengers, and staged accidents.  She has drafted pleadings and represented defendants at trial in all manner of personal injury cases where dismissal of the claim was sought under s57, most frequently on grounds of exaggeration.

PIBA

Junior Counsel to the Crown, Regional B Panel (2018 - 2023)

Assistant Coroner Greater Manchester (West)

Court Examiner

Articles published in Personal Injury Law Journal and Expert Witness Journal.  Webinar for Lexis Nexis.

Recent: Tips & Tricks for Part 36; Expert Evidence; Judgments; Everything EL.

Bar Vocational Course, University of Northumbria (Very Competent)

Graduate Diploma in Law, University of Northumbria (Commendation)

MA (Honours) Politics and Sociology, University of Edinburgh (2:1)