Stephen Jones

Stephen joined the Manchester office of Leigh Day as a partner in November 2015, having previously been the head of clinical negligence at Pannone and that firm’s successor, Slater & Gordon.  

What people say

Chambers say “Stephen Jones of Leigh Day enjoys a tremendous reputation among interviewees. “He is a really brilliant lawyer in clinical negligence because he knows the medicine, knows the law and is vastly experienced," enthuses one observer. "He has a great eye for detail and is very forensic," says another interviewee, adding: "He has a great tactical brain and I would trust his advice on any element of proceedings." Legal 500 describe him as ‘fiercely bright and determined’.

Legal expertise

He has a long track record of bringing successful cerebral palsy and spinal injury claims and has consistently secured million pound plus awards in brain and spinal injury cases including the following:

• Settling numerous cases on behalf of children with cerebral palsy as a result of the mismanagement of their mother’s labour or their birth.  
• Acting for children whose diagnosis of meningitis was negligently delayed with the result that they were left with significant brain injury demanding 24 hour care.
• Acting where negligent hospital care has led to acquired brain injury which should have been avoided: for example, a failure to deal promptly with an asthma attack leading to brain injury; a case where air was inadvertently injected into a patient causing brain damage; and in ENT surgery where an instrument penetrated the brain causing frontal lobe injury.
• Regularly securing substantial compensation for clients suffering from cauda equina syndrome, where diagnosis and treatment has been delayed notwithstanding “red flags”.
• Securing damages after a failure to diagnose promptly a spinal abscess led to the development of tetraplegia.
• He acted for the family of former England footballer Robbie Fowler and for Denise Hendry, wife of former Scotland football captain Colin Hendry, obtaining what at the time was the highest award ever made in this country for a cosmetic surgery case (2006).  

Stephen has a specific interest in Inquiry work.  He represented over 100 patients at Ashworth Hospital in the Fallon Inquiry (1999); acted as solicitor to the Royal Liverpool Children's Inquiry (Alder Hey Hospital, reported 2002) and the Redfern Inquiry into tissue sampling in UK nuclear facilities (reported 2010) and as well as acting regularly for families in inquests has also been appointed solicitor for HM Coroner for Manchester in various cases (2011, 2012).

Memberships

He is a member of both the Law Society and AvMA clinical negligence accreditation panels.

Stephen Jones in the news

• Lucy Letby: NHS could face record compensation bill of more than £60m Guardian 23.8.23
• Lawyer in the news: Stephen Jones, Leigh Day Law Society Gazette 3.2.23
• "We have been tragically let down": Beth Matthews' family say her death was 'wholly avoidable' Manchester Evening News 20.1.23
• Mum convinced she has long Covid and dementia despite no symptoms found dead on birthday Mirror 6.9.22
• Woman whose endometriosis went undiagnosed for 15 years wins £0.5m pay-out British Medical Journal 18.8.20
• Retired firefighter died after feeding tube inserted into his lung instead of stomach Manchester Evening News 3.5.24