Areas of Expertise

• Personal Injury

  Personal injury work has been the most significant component of Richard’s practice since his call to the Bar.

  Acting for both Claimants and Defendants, he has gained considerable experience of all stages of the full range of personal injury claims, including fatal accidents, serious traumatic injury and occupational disease claims.

  His practice affords him a wealth of experience of conducting personal injury litigation from pre-issue, through to conducting appeals in the Court of Appeal. The range of work undertaken by Richard covers all types of personal injury claim litigated on the Multi Track. He undertakes advisory work in respect of all aspects of breach, causation, limitation, quantum, tactics and evidence, conducts conferences with relevant experts, attends interlocutory hearings and conducts trials and appeals. Joint Settlement Meetings are a very frequent entry in his diary. He is used to appearing against Silk.

  He was first appointed as counsel on the Attorney General’s Panel in respect of personal injury work since 1994. He has acted for most Government Departments and agencies over the years. However, he also free to act against them, with some insight into their workings.

• Serious Injury

  Richard is routinely instructed in a range of catastrophic injuries often valued in excess of £1M arising from his motor, traumatic, employers’ and public liability and clinical negligence work. He is confident and experienced in assisting in the identification and recruitment of the appropriate range of experts to ensure that all aspects of the injury are addressed. He is used to advising on the types of issue which commonly arise including those relating to capacity, accommodation, prosthetics, Court of Protection and periodical payments. He is experienced in claims relating to upper limb/lower limb(s) amputation and traumatic brain injury claims.

• Clinical Negligence

  Richard’s clinical negligence work continues to increase in volume, complexity and value. I this field he acts predominantly for Claimants. He finds this area of practice particularly rewarding.

  The litigation he has had experience of conducting includes deaths and injury, including significant brain injury, resulting from inadequate medical attention, poor surgical practice, failure to administer appropriate medical treatment and systemic failure.

  He has dealt with a very wide range of areas of medical practice, including orthopaedics, oncology, general practitioner practice, dentistry, ophthalmic, obstetrics and gynaecology, accident and emergency and plastic surgery. He has dealt with claims, to name but a few, relating to failed hip replacement surgery, failure to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, failure to diagnose cancer, failed breast enlargement surgery, death resulting from failure to recognise the progression of hereditary angeodema and negligently conducted hysterectomies, amongst many others.

• Disease

  Occupational disease work has been a significant aspect of the personal injury work conducted by Richard. He has obtained very considerable experience of all aspects of this type of work since he moved to Ropewalk Chambers more than 20 years ago.

  He has enormous experience in all types of disease litigation, including defending group actions, to Appellate level. His practice encompassed the range of work from serious NIHL claims, to work-related upper limb disorders, chest diseases, asbestos-related and stress at work claims. As the disease market shifts Richard finds himself increasingly undertaking asbestos work in the Master’s Corridor or more often now by way of a telephone Show Cause hearing.

• Counter Fraud

  Fraudulent claims come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the outright invention of an accident and injury through to the more subtle deliberate exaggeration of legitimate heads of damage.

  Richard’s initial ten years of practice, involving a significant element of Crown Court criminal work before moving to Ropewalk Chambers, makes him particularly well-placed to explore these types of claim. Cross-examination of Claimants thought to be pursuing fraudulent claims is, for him, an area of particular interest and professional reward.

  Whilst aware of the recognition by courts of chronic pain, ME, fibromyalgia, somatoform disorders and the like, Richard is well able to probe into the divide between the genuine and the fraudulent.

  He has experience of dealing with fundamental dishonesty both in the context of displacing QOCS protection and in relation to Section 57.

• Criminal Regulatory

  Richard has much experience in defending and mitigating on Health and Safety prosecutions arising out of work-related personal injury and death. His experience of criminal law and procedure ensures a multi-disciplinary approach is brought to bear, when seeking the most favourable outcome for his clients.

• Inquests

  So far as inquest work is concerned, he has considerable experience in representing a wide range of “interested persons”, including the family of the deceased, albeit is more commonly is instructed by those whose conduct is being critically enquired in to. He is very experienced in conducting both “Coroner only” and “Coroner with jury” type inquests and in those engaging Article 2 HRA.

  He regularly attends pre-inquest review hearings, complex multi-party inquests lasting up to six weeks, and inquests where criminal charges against witnesses and organisations are still under consideration.

  He has considerable experience in dealing with Care Home related inquests, with the involvement of CQC, HSE and the police as interested persons.

  He is well used to dealing with the quasi-criminal nature attaching to some inquest hearings, the robust approach of some representatives and Coroners, as well as the peculiar sensitivities that will always arise. He is also instructed to advise clients on all aspects of inquest hearing and preparation and regularly holds conferences with proposed inquest witnesses.

  He is regularly instructed as counsel on the Attorney General’s Panel, acting for Government Departments at jury inquests.

  He has acted, on instruction by the then Coroner for West Lincolnshire, as Counsel to the Inquest on a high profile Red Arrows “zero-zero ejection” inquest, which involved over 10 interested persons, mostly represented by QCs, and which lasted many weeks, attracting national media attention.

• Motor

  Claims arising out of road traffic accidents have been a significant aspect of Richard’s practice over very many years. These claims have touched on almost every legal scenario, and include claims involving the Motor Insurers’ Bureau’s untraced and uninsured driver’s agreements, insurance and cover issues, fraudulent claims, catastrophic injury and multiple party claims. By way of example, Richard currently acts for a number of motorcycle riders who have each suffering life changing injuries, and for a car driver in a pedestrian brain injury case.

• Group Actions

  Over many years, Richard has had involvement in both bringing and defending group actions, most recently being involved in two occupation disease-based action brought against a North East based mining group. He is not concerned by having to digest the volume of material usually involved in such cases and is adept at creating helpful tables and spreadsheets which assimilate pertinent aspects of the evidence.

About

• Appointments

  • Attorney General’s Panel Counsel

• Memberships

  • Personal Injuries Bar Association

• Education

  • LLB (Hons) 2:1, Manchester

• Notable Cases

  Joseph Johnson v Ministry of Defence and Hobourn Eaton [2012] EWCA Civ 1505

  Hartman v South Essex Mental Health NHS Trust & Others [2005] EWCA Civ 6

  Holtby v Brigham & Cowan (Hull) Limited (2000) 3 All ER 421