Mike O"Brien

Mike is a former law officer, he was solicitor general for the UK 2005-07, and he served for 14 years as a Government Minister. Mike trained in Birmingham as a solicitor. He was a lecturer in Contract and Business Law 1981-87. He practised criminal law 1987-92 dealing with insider dealing, fraud, five cases of murder and a defendant in the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Robbery, allegedly the biggest robbery in British history. He was also a solicitor advocate for two years. Elected to Parliament in 1992 he was on the Home Affairs and Treasury Select Committees and was Parliamentary adviser to the Police Federation before being appointed to the front bench as a Shadow Treasury minister in 1994 and later going into government. He is a member of HM Privy Council and was appointed by HM as a Queens Counsel in 2007 whilst solicitor general. On leaving Parliament in May 2010, he practised briefly as a solicitor before deciding to transfer to the Bar. He worked on a series of cases with David Lock QC from January 2011 to the March including local government and health related judicial reviews and procurement cases. Clients have the opportunity to brief counsel with an extensive experience of how the public sector works, as well as the person who brought into law many important Acts of Parliament. Mike specialises in public law, where the rights of citizens and the public sector are involved.