Who? Linda Millband, national lead lawyer of the clinical negligence team at Thompsons Solicitors, Birmingham.

Why is she in the news? Acting in civil claims for around 350 patients who received private treatment at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston hospitals from breast surgeon Ian Paterson. He was convicted of intentionally wounding patients.

Thoughts on the case: ‘The sheer scale of the assaults committed by Paterson, on so many innocent and vulnerable victims, makes this the most shocking and emotive case I have ever been involved with. The clients who gave evidence at the criminal trial showed exceptional bravery.

‘The civil case will be heard in October. We expect to prove that private hospitals should be vicariously liable for consultants with operating rights and have a non-delegable duty of care to their patients.’

Dealing with the media: ‘I worked closely with the media throughout the criminal trial. The journalists were fair and objective in their reporting and all concerned had an interest in supporting the victims and assisting them in obtaining justice. Understandably, the story attracted a large amount of interest in the UK and abroad, including from as far away as Nigeria.’

Why I became a lawyer? ‘I have always had an interest in social justice. I decided to specialise in PI/clinical negligence. The premise of obtaining maximum compensation for injured people still gives me huge job satisfaction after over 20 years in practice.’

Career high: ‘I enjoy that I share the vision and values of Thompsons and that we go the extra mile for both union and private clients. I recently settled a cerebral palsy case after two other firms had failed to get anywhere with it.’

Career low: ‘The recent government consultation which proposes to introduce fixed costs in lower-value clinical negligence claims, which will limit access to justice. The plight of the victims of Paterson should make any decent government rethink the imposition of fixed costs in such cases.’

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