1979 -1986 Ballymena Academy, N. Ireland
1988 Worked for a Los Angeles law firm
1989 Trinity Hall, Cambridge: MA (Law): 1st class
1989 Gray’s Inn Scholarship
1999 Appointed by Attorney General: Junior Counsel to the Crown (B Panel)
2001 Publication of Medical Treatment Decisions & the Law
2003 Called to the Northern Irish Bar

2010 Publication of Second Edition of Medical Treatment Decisions and the Law

2010 Appointed Head of 3 Serjeants' Inn Clinical Negligence and Healthcare Team

2011 Appointed a QC.

Email: cjohnston@3serjeantsinn.com

Christopher is recommended in clinical negligence and professional discipline by leading legal directories the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

'Christopher Johnston regularly acts for both claimants and defendants when very large sums of money are at stake.  He has "an exceptional grasp of the medical issues" and is known for invariably making the right moves in a case.'.... Chambers and Partners 2011

 'Christopher Johnston does equally well in both the medical and police sectors, and proves particularly good when it comes to dental matters.'.... Chambers and Partners 2011

Christopher Johnston is widely admired for his user-friendly manner: "He is a joy to work with and clients love him." He is also credited with achieving consistently excellent results, with a number of interviewees commenting that his pleadings are extremely accomplished. Solicitors rely on him. Chambers and Partners 2010

 'Greatly in demand and a “class apart amongst the juniors,” Christopher Johnston impresses observers as an “incredibly quick, accurate, organised and dedicated individual.”' Chambers & Partners 2009
 
"...draws considerable praise for his 'fine advocacy and drafting skills'..." Legal 500 2008
 
'...“very incisive and good at pinpointing issues and dealing with difficult clients.”' Chambers & Partners 2009
 
"Christopher Johnston has an “approachable, pleasant and calming manner,” say clients who also applaud him for having a “deep intellect." Chambers & Partners 2008

Clinical negligence:

Chris has been recently appointed as Head of 3 Serjeants' Inn Clinical Negligence and Healthcare Team. 
Chris acts for both claimants and defendants in high value or complex clinical negligence claims. He is instructed by NHS trusts and all the medical defence organisations. Chris has been involved in many very high value settlements. He has undertaken complex obstetric and paediatric claims as sole counsel and  has significant experience of difficult fatal accident and wrongful birth claims.  He also appears in front of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority – recently representing a child who received a £4.5m award for devastating injuries suffered at the hands of her father. 
Chris is an editor of the Medical Law Reports.

Product liability:
Chris is currently a senior counsel for the claimants in the Fetal Anti-Convulsant (FAC) litigation, a class action involving a drug which caused damage to babies in the womb. This exceptionally complex case currently has 100 claimants registered, although it will impact on many more.  The case raises novel legal issues.  Chris was previously counsel in the non-autistic MMR class action.

Medical ethics:
Chris has substantial experience of medical ethics cases acting for NHS Trusts, patients and for the Official Solicitor. He has appeared in the High Court in cases involving determination of capacity and best interests in relation to all aspects of medical treatment decisions including withdrawal of treatment and force feeding. He is the editor of Medical Treatment: Decisions and the Law (2nd edition, Bloomsbury, 2009).

Inquests:
Chris acts for families, NHS trusts and doctors in inquests. He has undertaken a significant number of Article 2 inquiries; for example, representing a doctor at an Article 2 inquiry into the death of an inmate on a prison wing. Chris was counsel for the MoD at the only Article 2 inquest into deaths at the Deepcut Barracks.   He recently represented the Lockham family at an inquest concerning a mother who died as a result of serious failings in anaesthetic procedures during a Caesarean section.

Professional discipline:
Chris defends doctors and dentists at the GMC and GDC. He also represents police forces in disciplinary matters.

Clinical negligence:

Hobson [2007]: acted for claimant in difficult paediatric negligence claim (£3.15m)

"K": acted for claimant in missed tumour diagnosis which resulted in devastating lifelong injuries (£2.5m)

Childs [2010]: acted for claimant who was left blind as a result of missed diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (£750,000 settlement achieved).

"H" [2010]: acted for claimant who was left severely visually impaired as a result of missed diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (significant settlement achieved).

Crew: acted for the claimant in relation to a £2.2m settlement, one of the highest wrongful birth settlements.
Rees: acted for defendants in multi-party complex drug mis-prescribing case. 

Bushabu: successfully defended an NHS Trust in a case concerning the removal of a testicle
Morrison: acting for applicant in relation to a £4.5m award from CICA (child suffered devastating brain injuries as a result of an assault by her father when she was a baby).
Palmer v Kingston Hospital NHS Trust & St. George's Hospital NHS Trust [2007]: acted for claimant in £600,000 settlement: death of a young mother six days after the birth of her second child.
Miles v Redbridge & Waltham Forest Health Authority [2000] MLC 00173: case concerning misdiagnosis of fetal death - administration of pethidine
Boxall v Merton, Sutton, Wandsworth HA  [1997]: case concerning obstetric negligence; complex causation issue
Appleton v Garrett [1996] PIQR, P1: dental negligence class action acted for the defendant

Before the Criminal Injuried Compensation Authority I have acted for applicants who suffered devastating brain injuries as a result of vicious child abuse (Morrison, £4.5m; Osman, £3.5m).

Product liability:
Fetal Anti-Convulsant class action (2010)
MMR (non-autistic) class action (2006)

Medical ethics:
DS: acted for Official Solicitor in this case concerning a proposal to tube feed a disabled woman
Re M & Re H [2001] 1 All E.R. 801; [2001] 1 F.C.R. 406, [2001] Lloyd’s Rep Med 27: case concerning permanent vegetative state cases; whether Bland compatible with European Convention on Human Rights
NHS Trust v D [2000] All ER (D) 1777 Johnson J: case concerning permanent vegetative state
Re T (A Minor) (Liver Transplant: Consent) [1997] 1 WLR 242, [1997] 1 All ER 906:  case concerning the treatment of a minor abroad: jurisdiction of Family Division to hear case; appeared for Official Solicitor at jurisdiction argument; appeal reported
NHS Trust v D (unreported) 1996: case concerning withdrawal of treatment from PVS patient
Re L (unreported) 1996: case concerning a minor – blood transfusion
B v Croydon Health Authority [1995] 2 WLR 294; [1995] Fam. 133; [1995] 1 All E.R. 683, CA: force feeding of mental patient
Re V.S. [1995] 3 Med Law Rev 292: force feeding of mental patient

Inquests:

Green: representing a doctor in a high profile five week Article 2 inquiry into the death by dehydration/starvation of an inmate on a prison hospital wing.  This factually complex case entailed cross-examination of numerous witnesses and experts.
Lockham [2009]: I acted for the widower of a woman who died as a result of failed intubation during a Caesarean section.  The jury's narrative verdict outlined serious failures by NHS anaesthetists.
Inquest into Claire Stanage's death [2006]: represented the family at the inquest into Claire Stanage's death following a uretoroscopy at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospital in 2005. The narrative verdict returned criticised the hospital's infection control systems in respect of endoscopic procedures.
Deepcut Inquest [2006]: represented the Ministry of Defence in the three week inquest into the death of Private James Collinson at Deepcut Barracks.
Green: represented a doctor in an Article 2 inquiry into the death of an inmate on a prison hospital wing from dehydration/starvation - the doctor concerned was at risk of a manslaughter charge
Nicholls Deceased  Liverpool Coroner’s Court May 2000 and September 2003: death in police custody; death by heroin overdose following examination by police surgeon
Davies Deceased [1996]: Coroner’s inquest into death as result of methadone overdose in prison

Professional discipline:
GDC v Diba and GDC v Abbassian: two complex fraud cases against dentists acting in the NHS
GMC v Dr X: case concerning highly sensitive issues of illegal prescribing by doctor.
GMC v Curtis [2004]: represented Assistant State Pathologist of Northern Ireland in relation to charge of serious professional misconduct concerning a post-mortem on a dead baby

Chris is the editor of Medical Treatment: Decisions and the Law (Bloomsbury, 2010), a comprehensive text on medical ethics cases in the High Court and Court of Protection.  Catherine Hopkins in the AvMA Medical & Legal Journal 2010 noted:

"with its 'practical advice' and 'helpful appendices' it is 'comprehensive and userfriendly.  As such it would be a most useful manual for the legal practitioner. But this book contains more than that and its appeal should be far wider and of equal value to doctors and social workers as well as lawyers."  

As an editor of Medical Law Reports, Chris has written insightful commentaries on key medical decisions.

• On TTM v Hackney [2010] EWHC 1349 (Admin) he stated: "In his thought experiment to highlight the bizarre nature of quantum theory, Erwin Schrodinger's incarcerated cat could only be declared dead when the observer opened the box.  Prior to that point the cat was expressed as being in a quantum duality: both alive and dead.  In the TTM case Burton J opened the habeas corpus box to assess the patient's incarceration and determined that the patient was unlawfully detained.... The desire for a binary clarity in the determination of the lawfulness of detention under Article 5 is, nevertheless, not without its problems... [The Court of Appeal] may have to decide whether to allow for some quantum fuzziness in Article 5: could a detention be both lawful and unlawful at the same time depending on which legal observation is being made?  Only time will tell if that cat will be let out of its bag or - more appropriately? - its radioactive box."
• On Governors of X School [2010] EWCA Civ 1 Chris commented:" Article 6 has provided lawyers with the key to the closed doors of internal disciplinary proceedings.....In the media [the case] will probably be seen to fit neatly into their continuing glib  - and mythic - tale of creeping litigiousness in our society.  However, loss of one's profession is a far greater punishment than regularly imposed in magistrates' courts, a forum in which the denial of legal representation would be seen by all as a grave abuse.  Those facing the de facto loss of their right to practice their profession are likely to agree with the lawyers' favourite adage that everyone hates lawyers until they need one"
• On Purdy [2009] UKHL 45 Chris stated "The Purdy decision can be seen as the latest in a long line of cases in which the flexibility of the English common law and legislative approach has been lost in translation when considered in the language of the rights-based European convention.  Ultimately, however, given the importance of protecting individual autonomy, that loss is a price worth paying."
• Analysing Bapio [2008] UKHL 27 he stated that "The government's failure to ensure joined up thinking on immigration has resulted in its defeat in the House of Lords.... The House of Lords is to be applauded for forcing the government to play fair and make good on promises made to doctors from a sub-continent which over the decades has played such a crucial role in ensuring the over-stressed cogs of the National Health Service continued to turn."

Professional Negligence Bar Association, LCLCBA  Member

Northern Ireland Bar  Called to the NI Bar in 2003

Community Governor of Southfield Primary School