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Catriona Garcia-Alis

Senior Associate

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Saltire Court
20 Castle Terrace
Edinburgh
EH1 2EN
United Kingdom
Languages English

Catriona is a senior associate in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team based in Edinburgh. Her practice focusses on product liability claims, professional negligence claims and cyber breach incidents. Catriona also advises universities regarding disciplinary procedures and investigations and supports a range of clients in relation to general commercial and contractual disputes.

Catriona has almost 20 years’ experience advising in relation to professional negligence claims, mostly acting for insurers and their insured customers (including solicitors, advocates, architects, construction engineers, financial intermediaries etc). Seeking the best outcome for her clients in each case, Catriona has proof (trial) and appeal experience, as well as being familiar with extra-judicial mediation. 

In the sphere of product liability, Catriona has advised a number of medical device manufacturers facing multiple Scottish claims regarding a single, allegedly defective product. Through her product liability experience, Catriona has also supported clients facing similar class actions in multiple jurisdictions, ensuring a consistent approach on an international scale.

Catriona has also been a member of the CMS’ Cyber Breach Response Team for several years, providing immediate legal support to clients who suspect a cyber breach incident, with an interest in bringing and defending claims for losses arising from cyber incidents. 

Catriona’s varied experience also provides her with a unique insight into the rise of European class actions, particularly in Scotland, where the new rules have added a further layer of risk to corporate clients, particularly those already exposed to product liability or data breach claims. 

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Relevant experience

  • A global manufacturer defending potential product liability class action in the Scottish courts, whilst liaising with CMS advisers in other jurisdictions to ensure consistent approach and response to claims across multiple jurisdictions.
  • A French manufacturer and their insurer in relation to a large Scottish collective redress action brought by over 500 claimants against it and various other manufacturers of similar medical products.
  • A large firm of solicitors and their professional indemnity insurers in the defence of a multi-million pound claim alleging dishonest assistance in a breach of fiduciary duties, and participation in an unlawful means conspiracy.
  • A solicitor and his professional indemnity insurers in a claim alleging failure to advise correctly, which proceeded through a debate and appeal, and finally a proof (trial) and further appeal, before being decided in client’s favour. 
  • A major Scottish university in respect of a claim brought by a dyslexic medical student under the Equality Act 2010, claiming breach of duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ and seeking damages. 
  • A Russell Group university in relation to two complicated research misconduct investigations concerned with laboratory-wide practices.  The related but separate investigations involved several individuals from a single laboratory including both former and existing, staff and students, located both in the UK and overseas.
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Education

  • 1999 – DipLP, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
  • 1998 – LLB (Euro) Hons, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
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Feed

20/12/2023
Scottish QOCS case law for 2023 – the lessons learned so far
It is two and a half years since Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) was introduced to personal injury claims in Scotland. There has been much interest in how case law will develop the application...
22/05/2023
Technology Transformation - Life Sciences & Healthcare
The Life Sciences and Healthcare Sector is highly tech­no­logy-driv­en and an increasingly dynamic approach is taken when adopting busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies. This sector’s above-average uptake in technology is reflected in its prioritisation of measures against IT failure. However, the sector is often underprepared for technology risks, with many businesses still not having processes in place to manage key risks despite current and future concerns around disputes arising from this area. This report is a deep dive into data first produced for the report Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape. This saw over 500 people surveyed from multiple industries across the world. Here we look in detail at the 75 respondents from the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector, and their perspectives on the risks associated with busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies, including emerging technologies. Download the Technology Transformation Life Sciences and Healthcare report now to read about:Drivers of technology adoption in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorNew risks emerging and traditional barriers to risk man­age­ment­Cur­rent technology risks in the Life Sciences and Healthcare sectorFuture risks, including IP concerns and AIPreferred approaches to technology dispute resolution for the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector
16/05/2022
Automated Driving: The Journey Continues
With a lot of recent developments in relation to autonomous vehicles (“AVs”) across Asia and the US, this article focuses on what the drive home may look like as the next steps are taken in advancing...
16/05/2022
Automated Driving: The Journey Continues
With a lot of recent developments in relation to autonomous vehicles (“AVs”) across Asia and the US, this article focuses on what the drive home may look like as the next steps are taken in advancing...
23/03/2022
Class actions in Scotland
See the Overview of the Representative Actions Directive >> 1. Do you have a specific procedure or procedures for bringing “opt-in” class actions?  If so, please outline such procedure(s) and...
Comparable
09/03/2022
Risk Essentials Webinar: The lifecycle of a cyber breach
Cyber insurance remains one of the fastest growing lines of insurance and cyber-attacks could affect any insured organisation in any class of business. In this webinar our Insurance, Technology and Disputes...
01/03/2022
It’s time we got on the right track with self-driving’ cars
Anyone who has spent hours on long motorway journeys will respond to the idea of an Automated Vehicle (AV) doing the work for you. In the real world, AVs have been developed more with an eye on improved...
18/01/2022
The Road to the (Autonomous) Future
It is no longer possible to discuss the future of transport without the question of autonomation being raised. The question of ‘how long’ until Autonomous Vehicle (AV) deployment becomes a reality...
07/06/2021
Introduction of QOCS regime to Scottish personal injury claims
Provision was made for the introduction of qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) to Scottish personal injury proceedings in the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Pro­ceed­ings)(Scot­land) Act 2018 (the...
17/03/2021
End of the “loser pays” rule in Scottish personal injury claims
Commercial organisations and their insurers should be aware that the “loser pays” rule, which generally determines how awards of expenses (costs) are dealt with in Scottish litigation, is soon to...
25/11/2020
AB v University of XYZ and the right to legal representation
The High Court’s decision in AB v. University of XYZ [2020] EWHC 2978 (QB) provides further guidance on the issue of whether university students have a right to legal representation in disciplinary...
18/02/2020
‘Lessons learnt’ from the Maastricht University cyber attack
On 23 December 2019, Maastricht University found itself the victim of a significant cyber attack, which resulted in cyber criminals taking some of its data hostage. A management summary of what happened...