Phoebe is a Senior Associate within Hugh James specialist Asbestos team and is based in Cambridge, covering the East of England. Over the last 10 years since qualifying as a Solicitor, she has solely acted for Claimants and has achieved notable success in securing millions of pounds of compensation for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening, and lung cancer. Phoebe is also instructed posthumously, managing to secure justice often with limited information, testament to her thorough investigative capabilities.
As an accredited APIL asbestos and occupational disease specialist and Senior Litigator, Phoebe approaches her work with meticulous attention to detail and comprehensive research. Phoebe’s local knowledge and dedication to pursuing claims against former employers for historical asbestos exposure in workplaces is proven with consistent positive client feedback.
Phoebe is capable in resolving complex Public Liability and Employer’s Liability claims involving institutions such as schools and hospitals. Fuelled by her genuine passion for her clients in this field, Phoebe is an active advocate for securing justice and is patient focused in her holistic approach. She extends her impact through her active engagement on social media, and her insights have secured her interviews with BBC Radio Norfolk and ITV, where she highlights the risks of asbestos in public buildings, particularly through the National asbestos in schools campaign. Phoebe regularly provides health care education talks and recovers several thousands of pounds hospice fees annually for the benefit of local hospices who have provided care to her clients.
Phoebe routinely secures compensation for private medical treatment costs in mesothelioma claims where immunotherapy is not necessarily always available within the NHS. Additionally, she excels in securing enhanced compensation for complex care requirements involving dependent family members.
What Phoebe finds most rewarding in her work are the investigative challenges, the meaningful connections formed with clients and their families during difficult times, and the ultimate sense of resolution and relief she provides upon achieving settlement for her clients and their families.
Beyond her legal role, Phoebe has assumed leadership positions within two asbestos disease patient support groups: AADSG (2016–2021) and the East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group (EEA PSG), CIO since March 2021. These groups, founded by Mesothelioma UK Ambassador Brian Wallis, hold regular meetings across Norfolk and Suffolk. Collaboratively, Phoebe and the team of volunteers have made significant progress providing support to victims and families and she has been instrumental in helping to raise over £20,000 for Mesothelioma UK. Most recently donations from EEA PSG have been distributed within the NHS for provision of equipment, including chemotherapy chairs for patients living in the East of England region.
Experience
- Settlement of a mesothelioma claim for a retired Cambridge bank manager involving low dose exposure in a bank and office building refurbishment during the 1970s.
- Achieving settlement and a future medical treatment order for a Leicestershire upholsterer diagnosed with mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos dust when cutting asbestos for a bar fitting firm during the mid-1960s which was heavily contested.
- Settlement of a deceased mesothelioma claim for £235,000 gross where witnesses were located via a witness appeal and electoral roll searches for a former tool-maker against a dissolved company.
- Settlement of a claim against Ford Motor following exposure on the production line at Dagenham during the 1970s.
- Recovery of damages for a GPO Telephonist diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma following exposure in the early 1970s where liability was denied, settling the claim 5 days before a 3-day trial at the Royal Courts of Justice.
- Achieving a six-figure settlement and a future medical treatment order for a former carpenter diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma following negligent exposure to asbestos dust when cutting asbestolux for a Cambridge carpentry firm during the 1970s. Read more here.
- Settling a secondary mesothelioma claim together with a future medical treatment Order for non-NHS private medical treatment, after investigating how my client was negligently exposed to asbestos from washing her marine engineer husband’s asbestos laden dusty overalls in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Career History
- Senior Associate at Hugh James: 2021
- Associate Solicitor at Ashtons Legal: 2016
- Solicitor at Irwin Mitchell: 2013
- Trained and qualified at Thomas Eggar (now part of Irwin Mitchell) 2009- 2013
Education
- Nottingham Trent University, LLB Law, including one year work placement Eversheds (Industrial Disease)
Memberships
- APIL accredited asbestos and occupational disease specialist since 2020
- APIL Senior Litigator since 2016
