Phoebe is a Legal Director in the specialist Asbestos team at Hugh James, based in Cambridge and supporting clients across the East of England.
Since qualifying as a solicitor over 13 years ago, Phoebe has acted exclusively for claimants and has achieved significant success in securing millions of pounds in compensation for people diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening and asbestos-related lung cancer. She is also regularly instructed in fatal claims, where she is able to investigate historic asbestos exposure and secure justice for families, often where only limited information is available.
Phoebe is an APIL accredited asbestos and occupational disease specialist and Senior Litigator. She is known for her meticulous attention to detail, thorough research and strong local knowledge, particularly in claims involving historic asbestos exposure in workplaces across the East of England. Her dedication to clients is reflected in consistently positive feedback from those she represents.
Phoebe has particular experience in complex employers’ liability and public liability claims, including cases involving schools, hospitals and other public buildings. She is passionate about raising awareness of asbestos risks and has spoken publicly on the issue, including through interviews with BBC Radio Norfolk and ITV in connection with the national asbestos in schools campaign.
Her work is firmly patient-focused. She regularly supports clients and families with civil claims, government benefit applications and access to treatment. Phoebe also secures compensation for private medical treatment costs in mesothelioma claims, including immunotherapy where treatment may not be available through the NHS, and pursues enhanced compensation in cases involving complex care needs and dependent family members. She also recovers hospice fees for the benefit of local hospices who have cared for her clients.
Phoebe finds the most rewarding aspects of her work to be the investigative challenges, the relationships formed with clients and families during extremely difficult times, and the sense of resolution and relief that settlement can bring.
Alongside her legal practice, Phoebe has held leadership roles within asbestos disease patient support groups. She was involved with AADSG from 2016 to 2021 and is Chair of the East of England Asbestos Patient Support Group CIO, which has supported patients and families across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and the wider region since March 2021. Working with Mesothelioma UK Ambassador Brian Wallis (retired 2024) and a dedicated team of volunteers, Phoebe has helped raise over £20,000 for Mesothelioma UK. More recently, donations from EEA PSG have also supported NHS services in the East of England, including funding equipment such as chemotherapy chairs for patients living with asbestos-related disease.
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
- Legal Director at Hugh James: 2024
- 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