Richard was named the Planning and Land Use ‘Junior of the Year’ at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023. He undertakes work for private developers, central and local government, public bodies and interest groups. He has been on the Attorney General’s A Panel of Junior Counsel since 2018 and has acted for the Government in many of the most significant planning and environmental cases over the last five years.

Richard is consistently ranked as one of the top junior planning and environmental law barristers in the country.

Some of the recent high-profile cases Richard has been instructed on include:

Supreme Court

R (on the application of Finch) v Surrey CC (June 2023) - leading Nicholas Grant for the Secretary of State in a significant Environmental Impact Assessment case. The issue is whether an Environmental Impact Assessment for a commercial oil extraction project must consider the downstream greenhouse gas emissions arising from the oil’s eventual combustion by third party consumers.

Fearn v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2023] 2 W.L.R. 339 - led by Tom Weekes KC acting for residents successfully arguing that overlooking from the Tate Modern’s viewing platform is an actionable nuisance.

Manchester Ship Canal Co Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd  (March 2023) - led by Jonathan Karas KC and James Maurici KC in a case about whether private watercourse owners can sue sewerage undertakers in trespass or nuisance in respect of sewage discharges, or whether the statute provides exclusive remedies for the regulators  (Court of Appeal: [2023] Ch. 1 & High Court [2021] 1 W.L.R. 5871).

Secretary of State for Transport v Curzon Park Ltd [2023] UKSC 30 - led by David Elvin KC in a case about compulsory purchase compensation arising from the HS2 scheme. The issue concerned the relevance of other parties’ applications for Certificates of Alternative Development (“CAAD”) when deciding a CAAD application for the subject site. (Court of Appeal [2021] P.T.S.R. 1560 Upper Tribunal [2020] UKUT 37 (LC)).

C G Fry and Son Ltd v Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities [2023] EWHC 1622 (Admin) - leading Nicholas Grant in a case concerning the lawfulness of carrying out appropriate assessment at the condition discharge stage post-Brexit which has been granted a leapfrog certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Privy Council

Lake v Attorney General of Anguilla [2022] UKPC 33 – led by Richard Clayton KC in a case about the correct valuation method for valuing land acquired by compulsion to extend an airport runway.

Chitolie v St Lucia National Housing Corporation (July 2023) - led by Myriam Stacey KC in a case concerning land registration and the protection of overriding interests of occupiers in St Lucia.

• Law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (BA 2001; LLM 2003 (First Class)

• BVC (Outstanding) from the College of Law in 2004

• Alexander LLM Scholarship

Awards

• Shortlisted for the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2023 Planning and Land Use 'Junior of the Year'

• Huston Putnam Lowry LLM prize

• Baron Van der Heyden De Lancey Prize by Middle Temple

• 1 Essex Court Prize for Advocacy by the College of Law, 2004

Memberships

Appointed to the Attorney General's A Panel of Junior Counsel

Publications

• Actions Against Public Officials: Legitimate Expectations, Misstatements and Misconduct (Sweet & Maxwell, 2009)

• Environmental Judicial Review (Hart, 2011)