Throughout his 34-year legal career, StephenBallantine has been a “go-to” lawyer on contentious and non-contentious insurance and commercial litigation matters. Stephen trained in the City of London at Taylor Joynson Garret (now Taylor Wessing) and subsequently joined Clyde & Co, London as an Assistant Solicitor in its Charter-party Group. Stephen joined the Dubai office of Clyde & Co in 1998 and later was appointed Legal Director with DLA Piper in its Dubai office as Head of Local Litigation.
Stephen is the Head of Galadari’s Medical Malpractice Group and has served with the firm for 21 years. Stephen leads a team of Syrian, Egyptian and Emirati lawyers highly- specialised in defending and advising Hospitals, Clinics, physicians, nurses – and their medical malpractice Underwriters and Reinsurers – in medical malpractice matters in Criminal, Civil and Regulatory proceedings. He is particularly effective and experienced in working with appellants of disputed Medical Liability Committee (‘MLC’) decisions and preparing appeal submissions to the Supreme Committee of Medical Liability (‘SCML’) where he has achieved remarkable success in overturning adverse MLC decisions.
Leveraging his 26 years of professional legal experience in UAE Court proceedings Stephen has acted as an expert witness in UAE law, practice and court procedure in legal proceedings in England, Canada and the United States. Stephen also trains lawyers in UAE Medical Malpractice Law, Practice and Procedure under the Continuing Professional Development regulations of the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department. Stephen is also a regular speaker on medico-legal topics at Arab Health conferences and contributor/commentator on medico-legal topics of the day in various publications and platforms.
Academic Profile
LLB (Hons) – University College, Cardiff (University of Wales)
Law Society Solicitor’s Final Examination- College of Law (Chester)
Languages
English
Practice Focus
Medical Malpractice
Insurance
Dispute resolution
Commercial
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Advised a surgeon following a decision by the Regulator to suspend his licence indefinitely and preparing appeal submissions- which were accepted by the Regulator- who discharged the indefinite suspension replacing it with a warning. This case was significant given that although the SCML had found ‘gross medical error’ the Appellate function of the Regulator was prepared to dismiss an overly- harsh sanction and replace it with a more reasonable one.
Advised and defended a substantial Hospital group in Dubai Civil Court proceedings where the Plaintiff alleged that the Hospital had discharged the wrong infant following the mother delivering at the Hospital. The case was dismissed at the Court of First Instance and the judgment was upheld by the Courts of Appeal and Cassation. The case involved arguments revolving around the careful scrutiny of DNA evidence whilst observing prevailing local morals and family law.
Advised and defended a Hospital and surgeon in Sharjah Criminal and Civil Court proceedings following a procedure which resulted in the loss of a kidney and a claim for compensation of AED 100 million. The Criminal Court decision to fine the surgeon AED 100,000 was reduced to AED 20,000 on appeal. The Civil Court judgment resulted in an award of 0.7% of the original Claim Amount- which was the amount that was offered to the Plaintiff in a pre-litigation settlement offer. This case highlighted the substantial disconnect between grossly excessive amounts claimed by Plaintiffs and what- realistically- the Courts routinely award.
Advised and defended a substantial Hospital Group in Sharjah Civil Court proceedings arising from a catastrophic injury during childbirth and led settlement discussions resulting in a reasonable ‘global’ settlement being achieved thereby ending all litigation proceedings. Early settlement of this claim- where the evidence of substantial permanent disabilities was credible and undisputed- resulted in substantial savings in legal fees and ensured that the Plaintiff received the financial compensation required within a reasonable timescale.
Advised and defended a substantial Hospital Group in Dubai Civil Court proceedings and successfully challenged a flawed/incomplete decision of the SCML which led to the Court of Appeal referring the matter back to the SCML for reconsideration. This was an important decision because it signalled the Appellate Courts willingness to supervise and control SCML decisions whereas -previously- lower Courts were reluctant to ‘challenge’ SCML decisions following – what was argued in the case- an overly narrow construction of the relevant legislation.
Advised a substantial Hospital Group and prepared appeal submissions following allegedly negligent testing for Downs Syndrome in a fetus and an adverse decision of MLC. Our appeal submissions were accepted by the SCML who found that there was no medical error. This case demonstrated that a well-drafted and supportive expert involvement and report- located, instructed and briefed by the firm- can be instrumental in countering flawed conclusions/findings of MLC reports. Given the supportive SCML decision the matter did not proceed to Court.
