Henk Soede

Personal Injury

Henk has been recognised in the major legal directories as a “Rising Star” in Personal Injury (including, in particular, international personal injury) for several years. He maintains a case load of high value and complex claims, with a particular focus on claims involving jurisdictional or conflict of law issues, product liability, occupier liability, employer’s liability and group actions. His experience in construction, property damage and product defect disputes means he is well-equipped to act in cases which straddle these areas.

Selected Cases

• Acting in a jurisdiction dispute concerning the meaning of “domicile” in Reg. (EC) 1215/2012: Stait v Cosmos Insurance Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1429.
• Acting for the child claimant in a claim involving a TBI following a fall from height as well as in the secondary victim claim brought by the mother.
• Acting for a teacher in an employer’s liability claim involving complex PTSD and life-long disability following two separate assaults by pupils during the course of her employment and contested expert educational evidence on liability.
• Acting for the defendant in a claim (c. £800K) involving alleged trauma induced fibromyalgia and alleged fundamental dishonesty (the claimant’s claim was discontinued following a JSM and shortly before a 3-day trial).
• Acting for the defendant in a claim involving an alleged sexual assault on board a cruise ship and contested applications for extensions of time for service for service of the claim form: ST v BAI (SA) t/a Brittany Ferries [2022] EWCA Civ 1037.
• Acting for c. 230 claimants in a group action involving alleged gastric injuries suffered due to food hygiene issues at several major foreign resorts.
• Acting for the claimant family in a product liability claim arising from the explosion of their motor vehicle on a motorway (issues including, inter alia, the meaning of “importer” under the CPA 1987 and the post-Brexit amending legislation).
• Assisting the first to eighth defendants in their application to strike out the claimant’s claim in Piepenbrock v LSE [2022] EWHC 2421.
• Acting for the first defendant (English tour operator) in a hypoxic brain injury claim (c. £8m+) following a drowning incident at a hotel in Spain as well as associated claims for contribution and/or indemnities from accommodation suppliers.

Awards

• Lord Brougham Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn (2017)
• Lord Denning Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn (2018)

News

• Crown Office Chambers welcomes Henk Soede

Articles

• Blurred lines: relating back in foreign law

Qualifications

• BSc. Politics & Philosophy, First Class, London School of Economics
• GDL, City University
• BPTC, City University

Memberships

• PIBA
• SCL
• COMBAR
• LCLCBA

Rankings