Profile
I was born in Liverpool in 1948, and have lived near Liverpool all my life. I went to Gordonstoun School in Scotland, and then to Liverpool University, where I obtained an upper second class degree in law. Having done my Bar Finals, I joined my present set of Chambers in 1970. During the first part of my career, I did most types of common law litigation, particularly personal injury, crime and family work. During the latter part of the 1980s, I did more personal injury work, and gradually stopped doing criminal and family law. By the time I became a QC (“took silk”) in 1992, my practice was mostly personal injury litigation. When I took silk, I made the decision that I would like to specialise in personal injury work, with particular emphasis on injury to the brain and spine, having become interested in that type of injury during the earlier years. I had been finding that, the more of this type of work I did, the more I enjoyed learning about the medical side of the injuries, in addition to the expertise involved in litigating them. Because I specialise in the brain and spine, I deal with cases involving road traffic accidents, industrial accidents, leisure accidents, Army accidents, clinical (medical) negligence, and some other types of accident. I practise exclusively in personal injury, and do not hold myself out as practising in any other field.
I represent claimants only; I do not represent insurance companies, or other organisations which have caused the injury in question. There is some debate about whether it is appropriate for a barrister to represent claimants only, because traditionally we have been available for either claimants or defendants, but I very much prefer my own form of specialisation. I think that injured people and their families, together with their solicitors (who are hopefully specialists in this area) are probably going to appreciate the advantages of having a barrister representating them who understands, through constant contact, the particular needs and requirements of someone who has suffered a catastrophic injury. The argument against my type of specialisation is that it does not encourage objectivity, but my own view is that one can still be objective provided one retains a sense of balance.
I spend most of my time seeing claimants who have been injured severely, a process which I enjoy despite the severity of the injuries, because I feel that, with proper management of the litigation, we can be part of the therapeutic process of recovery and rehabilitation, with the ultimate objective of providing, through the court claim, as good a quality of life as is reasonably possible. Many of my consultations are held either in the home or the locality of the injured person, and I travel extensively in the whole of Britain, and to some extent in Europe.
I have written extensively on personal injury topics in almost all relevant publications, for example Quantum (the Kemp and Kemp service), Personal and Medical Injuries Law Letter, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers Newsletter, the Journal of Personal Injury Litigation, Personal Injury, Personal Injury Law and Medical Review, Solicitors Journal, The Lawyer, The Times, and other national newspapers. I am quoted moderately extensively in various Law Commission reports. Some of my articles are on our web site.
I have lectured extensively in England, Wales, Scotland and Europe on personal injury topics.
I have appeared on Channel 4 and Radio 5.
I have been used as an expert in America on English personal injury law.
I am listed in various legal directories, and in The Lawyer's surveys, as a well-known personal injury practitioner.
I am a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, the Personal Injury Bar Association, and the European Brain Injury Society, as well as Headway, the Spinal Injuries Association and the International Medical Society of Paraplegia.
I operate a "quality management system", and held a certificate from the British Standards Institution that my system complies with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001: 1994. I obtained my certificate in 1994, because I felt that it should be possible for barristers to manage their professional lives as efficiently as other professionals, even though we have been portrayed (rightly in my opinion) as being inefficient. It was surprisingly difficult. My Practice Manager and I obtained the services of a consultant, and he spent almost two weeks researching our systems, improving them, and then committing them to a Quality Manual (which is available for inspection) and Quality Procedures (which contain all the fine detail of how the system operates). We found it enormously valuable, not only because it makes you scrutinise your working habits, but also because it has a built-in system of checking and auditing. My Practice Manager and I review my practice every six months, which involves looking at all aspects of the work and how it has been performed, and we carry out an internal audit every year. The audit is a serious matter, in the sense that we have to check that each of us has performed in accordance with the set procedures.
It was interesting to me that, five years after I obtained my kite-mark, the Bar Council decided that it would encourage barristers to obtain a version of the kite-mark (much less stringent, if I have understood it correctly). The Bar does now operate such a system, and my chambers have the relevant certification. I still operate my more demanding system.
Although I have spent my life working hard, I have always been mad about cars, motorbikes and lorries. I am fascinated by their design and performance. I have a Class 1 LGV (heavy goods) licence, and have passed the Institute of Advanced Motorists test on both cars and articulated lorries. I have a competition driving licence, and I race in the Historic Sports Cars series at weekends, driving old Lotuses.
