Meet the team

Name:

Alistair Schuberth

Position:

Trainee Solicitor

Team:

Health and Social Care

Who is in your team?

Carol Ayre heads the team with Chris Webb-Jenkins supervising the social care side of the department in which I am currently involved.

What does your team do?

Primarily the team defends claims made against Local Authorities and schools as well as advising on policy implementation within various public bodies. We also provide additional support such as seminars to clients on issues that may affect them.

What is your role in the team?

I have been involved with negotiating on costs, assisting fee earners, producing reports, attending hearings both alone and accompanied, meeting with counsel, and assisting on drafting articles for trade publications.

Recent team achievements

We have recently received new instructions from several Local Authorities due to the reputation of the department and seminars we have held.

We have been contacted by a major charity that has expressed interest in developing a relationship with the firm as to potential future legal work.

We have also received instructions from a new client following a seminar on trusts schools. The new clients are a board of governors who are looking to follow this path.

Describe a case you have recently been involved in and why you found it interesting

I was involved in attending a preliminary trial on limitation. The law in this area is currently in a state of flux because two cases that are due to be heard before the House of Lords have the potential to radically alter the way limitation is treated.

In the case I was working on there was a dispute relating to the Courts discretion to allow a claim to proceed despite it being brought after limitation had expired. We were arguing that there was no substantial reason to justify the Claimant's delay.

The outcome was that the Court gave judgement in favour of the Defendant.

I found the experience interesting because it is rare for cases such as this to reach the hearing stage and so it was a good opportunity to experience the litigation process at this stage.

The hearing also allowed me to further develop my understanding of the law surrounding limitation and why it is so important in the type of social care cases we are involved in.

Current key clients

NHSLA, various Local Authorities, various insurers.

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