James Cahan

Practice Areas

James is a specialist in the field of clinical negligence with broad experience across all areas of medicine. He is regularly asked to advise on the most complex of cases.

He has been a member of the prestigious AvMA Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel for many years, and is regularly instructed on cases involving; spinal injuries (paraplegia and cauda equina), cerebral palsy, sepsis, amputation, cancer diagnosis, fatal injuries, Erb’s palsy, issues surrounding consent, surgical negligence, cosmetic surgery, bariatric surgery, GP negligence, ICU negligence, PTSD, and brain injury, to name just a few.

James’ expertise in spinal injury work in particular has seen him take over cases from other firms, and secure settlements on difficult cases, that might otherwise have failed, or been abandoned. James is regularly asked to provide legal commentary and has been quoted in national publications, including The Times. During his work on a number of high profile cases, James has gained useful experience on handling the media. This has involved several BBC News interviews, as well as work on Healthcare documentaries, including for Panorama, which explored the current problems being faced by patients treated in the private healthcare system.

James is passionate about his work and will always fight as hard as required to secure the right result for his client. James recently secured judgement on a long running cerebral palsy case, where liability was fully disputed right up to final preparations for a ten day High Court Trial. His current caseload comprises complex medical negligence claims with claim values starting in the high hundreds of thousands, through to claims expected to settle in excess of £30 million.

Career

James has been at Thomson Snell & Passmore for almost 20 years and has built up comprehensive experience in multi-track litigation for both clinical negligence and personal injury; working exclusively on clinical negligence cases for well over a decade.

Professional Memberships

AvMA Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel member. APIL - Litigator status, Clinical Negligence Special Interest Group.

Personal

James has three young children which take up most of his free time, but when time allows he enjoys mountaineering, racquetball and ‘spinning’.