Lisa Williams

Lisa is a Principal Associate with nearly 25 years in the insurance industry and who began practicing law exclusively in 2004. Lisa has over 10 years' experience in the aviation sector starting out with a boutique aviation law firm.

Lisa has provided legal advice and representation to numerous international and global airlines, including a flagship carrier, and their insurers in a range of legal disputes and cases both domestically and abroad, also in claims with multi-jurisdictional elements and cross border issues. Lisa’s has defended airlines and their insurers in passenger and third party injury claims arising out of the Montreal Convention 1999, Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and Regulation EC 1107/2006, as well as in property damage, baggage, flight delay and denied boarding claims.

She is also experienced with advancing and defending subrogation claims on behalf of aviation clients, as well as with commercial litigation, insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes and general aviation claims.

Lisa is also skilled in resolving claims pre-litigation, handling “white label” pre-litigation insured claims on behalf of a major UK airline and with Aviation ADR schemes approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, such as the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).

Lisa has been recognised on more than one occasion in the Legal 500 UK as a recommended lawyer for Aviation London, being cited as having 'exceptional work capacity and [being a] commercial thinker' as well as 'approachable, knowledgeable and commercially astute'.

Notable cases

• Handling of the passenger claims in the UK and US emanating from an incident of severe and unexpected turbulence on a commercial flight to Tampa in 2019, generating great media intrigue;
• Resolving the lost baggage claim in the UK from a high profile "WAG";
• Involved in handling the alleged toxic fume claims, arising from a 2019 emergency landing of a A321 in Valencia following the inflow of smoke in the cabin. Incident under investigation by the Spanish Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CAAIIC);
• Successfully rebutting a very commercially sensitive UK Claim for denied boarding and discrimination for a well-known carrier, including liaising with the carrier’s press office to assist with appropriate responses to the media/social media;
• Defending a major UK carrier from a passenger claiming to have been inappropriately touched and groped during a flight, the subject of which entered the public domain via a blog post;
• Swiftly dealing with the, ultimately modest, settlement of a passenger claim against a flagship carrier for injury from a bag falling from an overhead compartment which was the subject of a news article in the Evening Standard in 2016;
• Defending the claims from passenger against a carrier following an alleged aerotoxicity incident, with interest in the US following linked litigation brought in the States involving Boeing; and
• Representing a carrier in litigation for a high value denied boarding claim for a well-known carrier, involving issues of Human Rights and the Tokyo Convention Act 1967, from a group who were removed from aircraft for disruptive behaviour.