- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Civil Fraud
- Clinical Negligence & Healthcare
- Commercial & Chancery
- Court of Protection
- Construction & Property
- Credit Hire
- Crime
- Family Law
- Financial Crime
- Inquests & Inquiries
- Personal Injury
- Police Law
- Professional Negligence
- Public Sector & Human Rights
- Regulatory & Disciplinary
- Travel & Cross Border Claims
Edward Lamb KC
Call: 2006 | Silk: 2024
“Ed is a pleasure to watch in action — his advocacy is a work of art. Clients adore him and he has the complete respect of the court and his opponents.”
— Chambers and Partners, UK Bar Guide
“He understands the complexity of mental capacity issues in the context of injury litigation better than anyone else.”
— Legal 500, UK Bar
As featured in The Sunday Times Magazine and The Observer.
Finalist, Silk of the Year, Court of Protection — Legal 500 Awards 2025.
Finalist, Silk of the Year, Family — Family Law Awards 2025.
Edward is widely recognised as one of the leading silks at the London Bar. This is reflected in his listing as a leading silk in Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners across four areas spanning his specialist practice: Family (children), Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and the Court of Protection. He was one of only two cross-jurisdictional silks to be appointed in his cohort, at eighteen years’ call.
Through this blend of specialisms, Edward’s practice includes the most important cases being heard in England and Wales across his practice areas. These include: private children cases with complex cross-jurisdictional issues; inflicted non-accidental catastrophic injury and death in children; cases involving serious domestic and sexual abuse; catastrophic clinical negligence and personal injury claims involving life-long disability, lack of capacity and birth injury; and the full spectrum of welfare and finance cases in the Court of Protection, particularly where they intersect with concurrent civil proceedings.
Having served on the Attorney General’s Panel from 2021 to 2024, Edward continues to act in silk for the Home Office, FCDO and DWP across a range of public law matters. Many of these cases involve complex international jurisdictional issues, in line with his non-public law practice. He is the joint author of the chapter on Human Rights Damages in Injury Claims in Kemp and Kemp.
Edward founded the Court of Protection team in Chambers, which is now thriving. He is one of the few leading barristers to specialise in both civil claims arising out of brain injury and the Court of Protection. In his Court of Protection work he is hugely experienced in acting for public bodies and protected parties across a range of clinical and welfare matters, including end-of-life care, capacity to pursue IVF treatment, and care and residence decisions.
Edward has a leading practice in a number of areas relating to children and the consequences of relationship breakdown. He is sought out for his expertise in cases involving the application of PD12J and is a specialist in cases involving sustained but subtle patterns of domestic abuse.
International Children
Edward’s children practice has a strong international focus, dealing with issues from abduction to relocation. He is frequently instructed on last-minute and emergency applications in the High Court in this area. He has a detailed working knowledge of the problems facing families with an international spread, including matters involving the USA, Argentina, Singapore, Australia, India, Pakistan, Cyprus, Greece, France, Tunisia, Morocco, the Russian Federation and the UAE.
He often advises high-net-worth families and those whose roots are spread across jurisdictions on how best to move between them. He has a particular interest and practice in victims fleeing domestic violence and how this may affect their rights under the 1996 Hague Convention. Edward was counsel in the lead case on the interplay between the Hague Convention 1996 and care proceedings in England — a judgment that now affects all proceedings relating to children in this jurisdiction.
Private Children
Many of Edward’s cases involve complicated factual and medical evidence. They include domestic relocation cases; domestic violence and coercive control; parental alienation; and cases arising out of injuries sustained by children. His separate but complementary brain injury practice gives him a forensic and analytical approach to the evidence that puts clients at a significant advantage.
Public Law
Edward has appeared in cases of the utmost difficulty involving non-accidental injuries, death and fictitious illness cases, acting on both sides. Unusually at the family bar, he was appointed to the prestigious Attorney General’s Panel of Civil Counsel and continues to represent the government in a number of family-related matters in the Family Court, mostly relating to issues of PII, disclosure and national security.
Financial
Edward retains a niche but well-formed financial provision practice relating solely to children — Schedule One applications and issues relating to child maintenance. He has appeared in a leading judicial review concerning the CMS’s refusal to re-calculate a non-resident parent’s maintenance following a Tribunal decision, and frequently advises on issues relating to consent orders in Financial Relief Proceedings, including variation and enforcement.
Edward is instructed in catastrophic injury cases by many of the nation’s leading solicitors’ firms. He is well placed to apply his additional specialism as head of the Court of Protection team to cases involving complicated and technical arguments about capacity, many arising out of serious brain injuries. He is now the go-to silk for issues surrounding reverse indemnities at settlement and matters relating to their discharge.
Edward has a specialist interest in maximising interim payments for injured clients, most recently securing interim payments in excess of £5 million for a client through a nuanced deployment of Eeles stage 2 in the face of significant opposition.
The majority of his work relates to brain injury — a topic on which he lectures nationwide — and particularly paediatric brain injuries. He is abreast of contemporary developments in imaging and diagnosis, giving him an edge when advising on subtle brain injury cases. Beyond brain injury he advises on complex psychiatric injury, amputation claims and fatal claims. Edward was counsel on the Grenfell Tower civil claims team.
Unusually for a PI silk, Edward appears in trials in the High Court and appellate courts every month of the year. He has been described as “a dominant force in the courtroom”; when cases do not settle, clients can be reassured that he will achieve the best possible outcome at trial — an environment he relishes. He sits on the executive committee of the Personal Injury Bar Association.
Notable Personal Injury cases
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R v B.
Brain-injured RTA victim; issues of capacity and refusal to accept treatment; complex care claim and treatment analysis. Value: £5 million.
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A v C.
Catastrophic claim arising out of an RTA to a foreign national working in the UK at the time of the accident. Difficult issues on the international elements of care claim recovery and capacity. Value: c. £25 million.
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B v D.
Child claimant injured in an RTA: borderline capacity, drug use, and nuanced future loss and Ogden disability multiplier. Value: c. £11 million.
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Y v P.
Pedestrian RTA, amputation, and a foreign national. Repatriated for treatment but returning to the UK; issues of capacity and international care regime. Value: £8 million.
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R v G.
Catastrophic RTA leading to an injured boy who contracted bacterial meningitis whilst receiving treatment for catastrophic but survivable injuries. The claimant is now largely vegetative. Value: £10 million (after contributory negligence).
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A v H.
Catastrophic injuries sustained in an RTA. Multiple and severe injuries to a 19-year-old. Undue influence of family members; capacity to decide care and to have sexual relations. To be valued.
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P v Ors.
Acting for a famous international DJ whose career was cut short by a catastrophic RTA. Difficult questions on determining his earnings capacity and cross-jurisdictional issues between Italy and the UK.
Edward has a thriving clinical negligence practice and a professional negligence practice primarily related to actions involving lawyers. His clinical negligence work is principally directed at birth injury and cerebral palsy cases. His wide-ranging knowledge of the Court of Protection and healthcare provision ensures a multi-disciplinary outlook is deployed to good effect in these claims. He particularly understands the pressures placed on families caring for disabled children and is sought out for his sensitive approach to difficult cases.
Edward was the author of the chapter on consent in the textbook Clinical Negligence Claims (4th Edition). In non-clinical claims, he is often instructed in negligence claims arising out of family breakdown, with particular reference to financial provision.
Notable Clinical Negligence cases
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Prosthetic Eye Lenses Group Litigation
A multi-claimant action arising out of clinical negligence and product liability from defective prosthetic eye lenses.
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W v NHS.
Cerebral palsy case. Secondary victim claim also pursued as part of the main claim in respect of the mother. Exceptional interim payments in excess of £5 million secured during the course of the claim. Value: £35 million+.
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P v NHS.
A claimant who suffered severe brain injury as a result of hypoxia caused by placental abruption shortly prior to delivery. Breach of duty and causation are factually, legally and medically complex. Complex issues of future care and educational provision, and causation as to future behavioural difficulties. Value: £10 million+.
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Re C (Deceased).
Negligent treatment of a mental health patient leading to his suicide; significant dependency claim.
Edward is head of the specialist Court of Protection team in Chambers — a team he founded in late 2015 and which has seen exponential growth. He is listed in Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a leading silk in this area.
He deals with the broad spectrum of Court of Protection work: from welfare to finances, and cases involving consent to medical treatment. He has a particular knowledge of where the Court of Protection touches on civil proceedings and is renowned in the market for this specialism. He frequently acts in large teams involving litigators and deputies. His areas of regular instruction include welfare and best-interests proceedings (including end-of-life care); capacity to pursue IVF treatment; care and residence decisions for protected parties; property and affairs disputes intersecting with personal injury settlements; and reverse indemnities and discharge issues at settlement.
Endorsements
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB)
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and holds a current practising certificate.
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Regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB)
Regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and holds a current practising certificate.
View my privacy policy.
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