Olive Lewin

Olive Lewin is an experienced clinical negligence solicitor who has specialised in the field for more than 25 years, having previously trained as a nurse.

Olive has significant and extensive experience of settling complex and high-value clinical negligence claims.

She has been ranked by the two leading legal directories as a recommended lawyer in the area of clinical negligence for many years as she is a specialist known for her work on complex injury claims involving such issues as cerebral palsy, brain injury, and spinal cord injury.

Olive handles a wide variety of clinical negligence claims. She qualified as a registered nurse before moving into the law, and her dual qualification means that she tends to take on the more complex medical claims, where multiple areas of medicine are intertwined. These have included (but are not limited to) claims involving cardiac surgery where claimants have been left brain damaged; claims involving undiagnosed TB meningitis where claimants have been left with tetraplegia; cerebral palsy claims; claims involving undiagnosed endocarditis resulting in death or brain damage; Lithium toxicity claims where clients have been left with severe neurological damage; claims involving anaesthetic negligence leading to brain damage; claims on behalf of women who have suffered 3rd and 4th degree perineal tears during childbirth, and whose injuries were negligently managed; claims involving thrombosis and pulmonary embolism which have resulted in amputation of limbs, brain damage or death; and claims involving cauda equina due to negligent procedures or missed symptoms. 

In  2018 Olive acted on behalf of the claimant in Hassell v Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in this significant claim on the issue of consent in a spinal cord injury claim. The damages awarded was in excess of £4.4 million. She settled a claim for £1 million in a maternal death claim where a young mother died as a result of missed sepsis within 24 hours of delivering her baby. 

She successfully settled a claim for £3.5 million lump sum and £300,000 p.a for a client who suffered spinal cord injury (tetraplegia) following undiagnosed TB meningitis. She also settled a claim for £750,000 on behalf of a client who was left with neurological problems following Lithium Toxicity. 

Olive is a member of the Spinal Injuries Association; AvMA and APIL.