Lois Norris

Lois Norris is a member of the Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence groups.

Lois has a nationwide serious injury practice. She is currently instructed in brain injury, spinal injury and amputation cases, both as a junior alone and with the benefit of leading counsel.

Lois has particular expertise in drafting schedules and founded Schedule School, a free resource designed to take practitioners through catastrophic injury schedules. She regularly provides scheduled workshops.

In her clinical negligence practice, she handles a variety of cases, including birth, spinal and amputation cases.

To complement her personal injury and clinical negligence practice, Lois is regularly instructed in inquests. Notably:

• Lois represented the mother and boyfriend of Lucy Harrison at the inquest into her death. Lucy, a 23-year-old fashion buyer from Warrington, was 23 when she was fatally shot by her father whilst visiting his home in Texas. Following submissions, the Coroner recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter.
• Lois represented the mother of Jay Slater at the inquest into his death. Jay, from Lancashire, was 19 when he sadly went missing whilst on holiday in Tenerife before his body was found several weeks later. The Coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death, with no evidence of third party involvement.
• Lois was junior Counsel for the partner of the late Police Sergeant Ratana at the inquest into his death. A man detained by the Metropolitan Police concealed a firearm during a stop and search on the street. He later discharged the firearm in custody, fatally wounding PS Ratana. The Coroner recorded a conclusion of unlawful killing.
• Lois represented the family of Dr Rachel Gibson, an accomplished cancer scientist, at the inquest into her death. Dr Gibson died following cardiac arrest. The Coroner concluded that her death had been caused by the administration of excessive local anaesthetic (Ropivacaine) during surgery at a private hospital. A prevention of future deaths report was issued to the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

In addition, Lois has developed a particular expertise in representing families in cases touching upon the deaths of vulnerable individuals and/or individuals with learning disabilities.

Lois has also represented families in cases relating to a failure to scan (resulting in a finding of neglect), a failure to change a catheter (resulting in a finding of neglect) and a failure to provide lifesaving surgery.

Lois also represents individual medical clinicians alongside local authorities.

In personal injury inquests, Lois has expertise with motor vehicle deaths and deaths caused by the state of the highway (including cases involving mud and standing water).

In line with her inquest practice, Lois is regularly instructed in fatal claims and has developed a particular expertise in drafting schedules in cases where the Deceased was a single parent and/or did not live with their partner, and the conventional fatal calculations do not apply.

Lois prides herself on her client-centric approach and attention to detail.