Conor Dufficy
Year of call
2004
Instructing Conor Dufficy
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
Conor has a broad civil law practice and advises and acts in court for both claimants and defendants on a broad range of clinical negligence, personal injury, product liability and consumer matters.
He has been instructed in complex multi-jurisdictional and group actions. He has contributed to relevant publications, in addition to providing seminars for solicitors and other organisations. He has sat on internet and sports bodies’ regulatory panels. He has appeared as an advocate before sports regulatory panels. He qualified as an Accredited Mediator and has mediated many commercial, personal injury, probate and other disputes. He had a 16-year career in finance before qualifying as a barrister and was European Head of Foreign Exchange and Global Head of Currency Derivatives at Bank of America.
He obtained his law degree in Trinity College Dublin, a PGDL in City University and the BVC (as it then was) in ICSL. His interests include the works of Shakespeare, travel, reading, rugby, football, tennis and playing the saxophone badly. He is a qualified private pilot.
Conor is qualified to accept instructions directly from clients and is registered under the Bar Council’s Public Access Scheme, meaning that members of the public who seek specialist advice can come direct to him. In addition, he welcomes instructions from solicitors, in-house law departments, qualified foreign lawyers, and clients licensed by the Bar Council to give instructions direct to barristers under the Bar Council’s Licensed Access Scheme. For more information please visit our Direct Access page here.
Legal Expertise
Clinical Negligence
Clinical Negligence
Conor acts for claimants and defendants in clinical negligence claims advising, drafting pleadings, attending settlement meetings and in court. He has advised in all areas of clinical negligence including cerebral palsy, serious birth injury, serious brain injury, fatalities, obstetric negligence, oncology, negligent orthopaedic surgery, dentistry, ophthalmology, otology, administration of medication/pharmaceuticals, failed terminations, fatalities, negligent breast and cosmetic surgery, and failure to diagnose and consent, including in custodial and military settings. He has extensive experience in defective prosthesis litigation and related surgical issues including robotic surgery. Conor has a broad Inquests practice in clinical negligence, road traffic, accidents at work, alleged suicide and unlawful death cases. He has a specific interest in cases involving robotic surgery.
Notable Clinical Negligence cases
Hodgson v Hammond & Dieleman [2025] EWHC 1261 (KB) and [2025] EWHC 1610 (KB)
Successful at trial of liability and quantum against 2 GPs for failure to carry out appropriate investigations for pelvic inflammatory disease. The Claimant beat two earlier part 36 offers at trial.
P v F [2025]
Heading to trial on quantum. Negligent management of infection during surgery. Pleaded in excess of £10 million, liability admitted.
K v P [2023]
Fatal case of adult suicide pleaded in excess of £20 million settled in January 2025.
B v L [2022]
Catastrophic injury case with a capitalised value in excess of £30 million.
McKelvey v Royal Bournemouth & Christchurch NHS Foundation trust [2022]
Consent case won at trial regarding hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.
D v H [2021]
Failure to diagnose hydrocephalus in a newborn. Settled liability at JSM. Quantum continues.
S v G [2021]
Involving post-natal infection resulting in serious functional and cognitive impairment. Multi-jurisdictional aspects to quantum. Conor represented the Defendant.
W v S [2021]
Claim arising from negligent hip surgery against complicated history of defective prostheses. Settled for in excess of £1million.
B v B [2019]
Medical negligence claim arising from defective hip prosthesis and failure to recall, allegations of dishonesty.
D v MK [2019]
Blindness caused by clinical negligence in an elderly patient.
G v H [2018]
Concerned hypoxic brain injury at birth which settled just before trial for a sum, if capitalised, in the tens of millions.
B v H [2018]
Suicide arising in circumstances of allegations of inappropriate care from the mental health authorities (leading for large settlement for surviving family).
F v G [2018]
Maternal birth injury case involving losses arising from a growing business that failed to expand after the injury. Settled at mediation £1 million.
S (A child) v Mid Yorks Hospitals NHSFT & H (A child) v Birmingham Hospitals NHSFT [2016]
Both cases concerning hypoxic brain injury at birth.
Personal Injury
Personal Injury
Conor has been instructed in many areas of personal injury: employers’ liability, military injuries, road traffic accidents; Highways Acts and occupiers’ liability claims. He has advised extensively on claims with international aspects and in particular in matters dealing with jurisdiction and applicable law. He regularly advises upon and drafts complicated personal injury schedules of loss.
He advises on liability and quantum in many areas of personal injury including but not limited to, orthopaedic injuries, sensory loss, loss of limb, paresis, loss of mobility, brain damage, and psychiatric damage. He has considerable experience in somatic and functional neurological disorders (conversion disorders). These cases often involve allegations of fundamental dishonesty.
Conor has acted for defendants in fraud related personal injury matters, historical sex abuse allegations against individuals, educational and care institutions, private organisations and charitable/religious bodies. Conor has also advised extensively on quantum, vicarious liability and limitation.
Conor has direct access rights and is happy to be instructed on a CFA basis.
Notable Personal Injury cases
P v B [2025]
Heading to trial on quantum arising out of RTA with brain injury/functional neurological disorder.
N v MoD [2024]
NFCI injury case, allegations of fundamental dishonesty settled just before trial.
E v P [2023]
Case involving functional neurological disorder and allegations of fundamental dishonesty arising from a brain injury at work. Settled the month before trial.
M v L [2023]
RTA involving FND and need for lifelong care.
S v D [2022]
RTA, rear seat passenger, driver under the influence, allegations of contributory negligence, settled for £1 million.
C v P [2018]
Boating accident in a foreign country. Settled before trial.
Dunnett v Devon CC
A convicted murderer sought compensation for historic abuse. Conor was instructed for the Defence. The claim was dismissed at trial.
Bics v Nahome RTA Accident
Cyclist suffered serious brain injuries. Conor represented the defendant. Case dismissed at trial in the High Court.
Product Liability
Product Liability
Conor has acted for over 200 claimants in cross-border hip prosthesis claims. He appeared as junior to Hugh Preston KC in Allen v Depuy International Limited in a preliminary trial concerning applicable law under Rome II and PILA. The case also considered the territorial application of the Product Liability Directive and the Consumer Protection Act. He has also advised on other products sold and used across national frontiers. He has particular experience in hip-prostheses, cosmetic implants and pharmaceuticals, office equipment and white goods.
He was part of the team that settled the Corin Litigation within weeks of trial.
Conor has presented regularly on the law and provided in-house training for solicitors in this area.
Notable Product Liability cases
J v B 2023 (ongoing)
Brain injury case involving allegedly defective embolisation materials (ongoing).
Various ongoing cases regarding consumer products causing person injury.
Frank Amor & Others v Corin UK Ltd (The Corin Litigation)
Multi Group action litigation in defective prostheses. The Corin Litigation was scheduled for trial for 18 weeks in October 2017 as part of the ‘test case’ GLOs in the hip prostheses litigation.
Allen & Others v DePuy International Ltd [2015] EWHC 926 (QB)
International litigation concerning hip prostheses, preliminary issue on the meaning of NZ Law.
Allen & Others v DePuy International Ltd [2014] EWHC 753 (QB)
Preliminary trial regarding applicable law under PILA and Rome II and the geographical extent of the Product Liability Directive and the CPA 1987.
Bailey & Others v GlaxoSmithKline (Seroxat Litigation)
The case involved detailed reviews of many years of chemical clinical trials and practice and in-depth statistical analysis.
Conor was the author for the Lexis Nexis online guide to litigation in clinical negligence and product liability.
Conor was published in PI Focus [2019] in an article co-authored with a partner at an instructing firm regarding robotics in clinical negligence and product liability claims.
Inquests & Inquiries
Inquests & Inquiries
Conor acts primarily for families in inquests, often with a clinical negligence aspect. He also acts for families and other interested parties in all other kinds of inquests arising from accidents and suicides. He appears regularly in Article 2 inquests and inquests where a jury has been impaneled. Recent cases have involved suicide in private and public facilities, death by reportable diseases and A&E and other clinical settings. He has also represented families where the deceased has been killed by a defective product.
Sports Law
Sports Law
Conor has a keen interest in particular aspects of sports law including personal injury and commercial contracts. He has advised on the money laundering aspects of commercial matters in sport. He has an extensive practice in commercial and personal injury law. He has a broad background in business and was a criminal barrister for the first 4 years of his practice. He has a broad interest in sport with an emphasis on football and Rugby Union. He is an Accredited Mediator and has acted as an appeals chairman with the English Netball Disciplinary Process.
Notable Sports Law cases
British Horseracing Authority v McConville [2018]
The first case involving allegations of cobalt doping in horseracing in the UK. Conor represented the respondents.
Instructing Conor Dufficy
For more information please contact our clerks by calling +44 (0)20 7242 3555.
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