Jo Carpanini

Jo is a barrister in our specialist advocacy service, 8 DAC Beachcroft Buildings (8DB).

Jo specialises in personal injury litigation, with a particular emphasis on complex injury, casualty injury, casualty fraud and disease claims; together with costs litigation.

She has over 11 years of experience of insurance litigation work across a range of sectors including casualty claims, disease claims and costs litigation.  Jo has been instructed by a multitude of insurers including: Aviva, Allianz, AXA, LV, Markerstudy, NFU Mutual, Riverstone, RSA and Zurich.  Jo’s costs practice strengthens her personal injury practice.  She is well versed in not only all of the procedural elements, but also all of the costs elements which arise from her personal injury practice. 

Jo has appeared before a variety of courts and tribunals including the County Court, High Court and SCCO.  Having practised as both a self-employed barrister and employed barrister, and having been instructed by both claimants and defendants, Jo is able to provide strategic and tactical advice to clients throughout the life of a claim.

Jo is regularly instructed to attend trials, all range and manner of interlocutory hearings, such as applications, CMCs and CCMCs as well as assessment hearings.  In addition to oral advocacy, Jo is available for advisory work (both in writing and in conference) and for the drafting of pleadings, applications, Part 35 and Part 18 questions. 

Jo is available to provide and has delivered training on an array of topics to lawyers and insurers via seminars, multi insurer round-tables and conferences, articles and mock trials.

Jo’s significant insurance litigation experience has enabled Jo to develop and implement successful KYO strategies, gain nominations by large insured corporate clients and create products to sell to insurer clients.

Relevant experience / notable cases includes:

• Jo was instructed by the insurers of a restaurant in an occupier’s liability matter in which the Claimant alleged to have sustained a Lis Franc fracture. The claim had a pleaded value into the millions.  Breach had been admitted and after securing robust medical evidence contesting the Lis Franc diagnosis, the matter was settled for £250,000.

• Jo was successful in gaining permission to appeal, subsequent to providing advice on prospects and drafting detailed grounds to appeal, in an employer’s liability acoustic shock multi-track claim. The Court had refused to strike out the claim, or enter summary judgment in the alternative, after the Claimant had failed to serve any acoustic engineering evidence.

• Jo successfully represented the Defendant in a matter where the Claimant (a minor) had suffered a minor brain injury as a result of a road traffic accident. The Claimant had accepted the Defendant’s Part 36 offer over a year after expiry of the relevant period following receipt of the Claimant’s medical expert’s replies to the Defendant’s Part 35 questions; the Claimant relied upon the case of SG & Hewitt [2012] EWCA Civ 1053 and argued it would be unjust for the Court to order that the Claimant pay the Defendant’s costs from the date of expiry of the relevant period to the date of acceptance.  Jo successfully distinguished the index case from the case of SG & Hewitt and the Court concluded it was not unjust and awarded the Defendant its costs from the date of expiry of the relevant period to the date of acceptance.

• Jo represented the Defendant, paying party, at interlocutory costs hearings as well as drafting an application seeking the strike out of a bill of costs for misconduct and an order for committal for contempt of court against a qualified solicitor. She was led by a QC.

• Jo represented the Defendant in a multi-million pound EL leg amputation claim at a CCMC. She was then instructed to provide an advice in respect of resiling from an earlier admission of liability, due to the discovery of new evidence regarding the Claimant’s misconduct on other occasions unrelated to the index accident; as well as an advice on the prospects of securing a reduction for contributory negligence. This was in the context of a claim where the Defendant company had been subject to regulatory proceedings and ultimately had been fined by the HSE as a result of the index accident.

Professional memberships:

Lincoln’s Inn

Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA)

Jo Carpanini is regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and holds a current practising certificate. If you are not satisfied with the service provided, please contact BSB.