Raquel Siganporia

Raquel is a leading specialist spinal injury solicitor. She has a wealth of experience representing adults and children who sustain spinal cord injuries due to medical negligence or personal injury.

Raquel’s background

Raquel offers her clients a unique understanding of living with a spinal cord injury having become paralysed at T6-T7 aged 11, in 1993 following an incident of medical negligence.

Raquel believes in working closely with her clients, their families, and healthcare professionals to ensure her client’s complex needs are fully met to enable them to rebuild their life post-injury, with the best support possible. Raquel has substantial experience in setting up care packages together with funding her client’s immediate needs. Raquel relishes the challenges involved in ensuring her clients are enabled to participate fully in everyday life with the correct care, accommodation, medical therapies, vehicles aids, equipment, and support. Ensuring where possible that her clients resume employment as well as their interests and hobbies is key to Raquel when obtaining a successful outcome.

As well as fighting hard to obtain excellent results for her clients, Raquel is passionate about improving care and raising awareness of what it actually means to have a spinal cord injury on a day-to-day basis. Raquel believes that with the right support it is possible to rebuild a fulfilling life following a spinal cord injury no matter how the injury was sustained. Raquel has done this through spearheading several campaigns and events such as the Islington Wheelchair Awareness Day and through providing expert comment on spinal cord injury to the national media and conferences.

Case successes

• £10.5 million on a capitalised basis for a client who sustained a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage after her aneurism ruptured due to a negligent procedure. The client was left with a catastrophic injury and hemiparesis which was permanent. The settlement included £400,000 per year for care for the rest of the client’s life.
• £5.3 million settlement for a client paralysed as a teenager from negligent treatment in respect of an operation to correct scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.
• £5 million settlement for a 67 year old man left tetraplegic and severely brain injured following a road traffic accident
• £2 million for a client who sustained urological dysfunction and a conversion disorder manifesting itself as a spinal cord injury following a road traffic collision. The case was fought throughout with the Defendant placing a value of £20k on the client’s injuries.
• £1m on a capitalised basis for an 81 year old client who became paralysed during spinal surgery to remove a prolapsed, calcified disc. Liability was denied throughout the claim and the hard fought settlement allowed the client to pay for the complex, substantial care she required and provide her with a home which she could fully access.

What the experts say

Raquel Siganporia is a stand out partner who demonstrates strengths in difficult situations and unending patience, empathy and thoroughness, as well as a strong legal knowledge in her field.’ – Legal 500 2020

‘Raquel Siganporia is an exceptional solicitor who tenaciously represents her clients, many of whom have suffered life-changing spinal injuries.– Legal 500 2020

‘Tenacious, but utterly charming’ and has ‘incredible insights into the more difficult spinal cases’. – Legal 500 2019

Spinal Cord Community

Raquel is an Ambassador for Horatio’s Garden – a national charity creating and nurturing beautiful gardens in NHS spinal injury centres to support everyone affected by a spinal cord injury.

Raquel was proud to be a trustee for the SIA for 9 years and their Vice Chair for 3 years.
Raquel was a Patient Representative on a specialist panel tasked with developing and drafting NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) Guidelines on the prevention and management of pressure ulcers. This guidance was published in April 2014 and is the current leading authority within the UK’s NHS.

Professional Memberships

• Spinal Injuries Association
• Accredited Senior Litigator with Association of Personal Injury Lawyers