Mary O'Rourke QC

MARY'S PRACTICE AREAS

Mary is a highly-respected and sought-after specialist in professional discipline, clinical negligence and employment law.

She is ranked for clinical negligence and professional discipline by Chambers & Partners and for professional discipline by the Legal 500. She also won Professional Discipline Junior of the Year in the Chambers & Partners Bar Awards 2008.

She took silk in 2009 having been called to the bar in 1981. She was called to the bar in Northern Ireland in 2003 and is recognised as a Senior Counsel there.

Mary is widely recognised as one of the leading silks in professional discipline. She undertook first case at the GMC in 1986 and has consistently been representing doctors before the GMC since then in every type of hearing and before every type of Panel or Committee.

Mary is also active in cases involving the medical treatment of sporting injuries in an employment or disciplinary context, especially those involving complex statutory or regulatory issues or human rights issues.

Mary has vast experience of public law (particularly judicial review) work relating to the NHS and healthcare profession regulators, including judicial reviews of a number of decisions by coroners, and of the GMC in the Baby P paediatrician case (Al Zayat).

Mary has extensive experience of every type of clinical negligence claim, predominantly (but not exclusively) representing professional healthcare defendants. This includes both NHS Trusts and individual medical practitioners.

She also has a busy employment law practice centred on advisory and advocacy within the medical and related professions, and also within the education sector. This includes representing NHS Trusts, doctors, dentists and others in tribunal or in the High Court in breach of contract, discrimination and many other types of case.