Katie Shepherd
Principal Associate
Katie is a Principal Associate in the litigation team. She has over 15 years specialising in commercial dispute resolution for clients in the health and social care, emergency services, housing and charity sectors. Katie has particular expertise in disputes involving large outsourcing contracts with private providers and regularly advises on underperforming contractors, including advising on issues of a critical and urgent nature where the continuity of the service might be in jeopardy.
With the rise of abuse against staff in the public sector, especially within the NHS and in social care, Katie regularly assists clients with dealing with harassment, defamation and the misuse of personal information. She also specialises in reputation management including the use of and publications on social media and dealing with the press.
Katie also works closely with the Employment Department on employment related civil litigation.
Notable projects
- Acting for a major public sector client on a multi-million pound dispute with an underperforming private provider providing essential clinical services across the UK.
- Obtaining a number of anti-harassment injunctions which, for the first time, protected all client staff against further harassment and abuse from an ex-service user.
- Acting for a number of NHS clients against a medical devices manufacturer who provided faulty ventilators, ensuring the rapid replacement of the machines and compensation.
- Acting for a number of NHS clients successfully defending claims brought by a software licencing company for alleged overuse and misuse of the software.
- Advising an NHS organisation on the recovery of damages arising from the faulty installation of a large-scale car parking system.
- Acting for a medical technology client in ensuring inaccurate articles and images were within 24 hours taken down from major online news outlets and social media.
Qualifications
- BSc (Joint Hons) Zoology & Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 2004
- Graduate Diploma in Law, 2006
- Legal Practice Course, 2007
