Environmental LawHealth and SafetyInquestsProfessional DisciplinaryRegulatory
“Austin Welch is a health and safety specialist”- Legal 500, 2025
“Austin is a no-nonsense barrister who quickly gets to grips with the issues in a case and provides sound and pragmatic advice. He is fantastic with clients and fellow professionals alike and his advocacy skills, whether in court or before a regulatory panel, are second-to-none”- Legal 500, 2025
“Austin Welch has a broad-ranging inquests practice, with expertise in deaths in the workplace, healthcare institutions, care and nursing homes, prisons, and secure units.”- Legal 500, 2025
“Austin is unflappable and combines a grasp of technical detail with an excellent client demeanour which instils confidence in both those instructing and the lay client. His approach in court reflects this and he has a calm and collected approach to advocacy.”- Legal 500, 2025
“Austin is an excellent advocate. He has an authoritative presence in the courtroom and emits gravitas, he presents clear and well-reasoned arguments with ease, and he is an outstanding strategist and highly respected by clients and peers.” Tier 1 Business and Regulatory Crime (inc H&S) – Legal 500 2024
“Austin is an excellent advocate and an outstanding strategist with an authoritative presence in the court room, and he emits gravitas. He presents clear and well-reasoned arguments with ease, and he is one of the best senior juniors in the field of health and safety, inquests, and public inquiries.” Tier 1 Inquests and Inquiries – Legal 500 2024
“Austin is an excellent senior leading junior. A superb advocate with a commanding presence and natural gravitas in the courtroom. He is unflappable during cross-examination, holds real weight with clients and delivers strategic and well thought out advice in a clear and accessible way. He is highly personable and fosters a true sense of collaboration” – Legal 500, 2023 – Inquests and Inquiries – Tier 1
“Austin is incredibly hard working, giving his time generously and diligently to a case. His technical knowledge of business and regulatory law is second to none; he is a quick thinking master strategist, who easily finds the best way through any legal or practical issue. He immediately gains the confidence of his clients with his straightforward and tactful approach. He is a compelling advocate.” – Legal 500, 2023 – Business and Regulatory Crime – Tier 1
“Excellent knowledge of the law, meticulous preparation, extremely hard working and tactically very astute. He is superb with clients, and very generous with his time. He will undoubtedly be in silk before very long” – Legal 500, 2022 – Inquests and Inquiries – Tier 1
“His preparedness of matters for hearings and his oral advocacy is that of a highly-skilled advocate. He is thorough, straight-talking and his communication skills in getting often complex issues over to lay clients is excellent.” – Legal 500, 2022 – Regulatory – Tier 1
“Very knowledgeable; his written and oral advocacy is top class. He is very patient and understanding with clients. A very capable lawyer and is very generous with his time. He has a very good track record.” – Legal 500, 2021 – Regulatory – Tier 1
“A committed and exceptionally talented barrister; without doubt a future QC. He is meticulous in his approach to the case and excellent with the client, he was reassuring, confident and worked hard to ensure a positive outcome for the client.”– Legal 500, 2021 – Inquests and Inquiries – Tier 1
“Combines superb client care with fantastic technical ability”– Legal 500, 2020 – Inquests and Inquiries – Tier 1
“His client care skills are second to none”– Legal 500, 2020 – Regulatory, Health & Safety and Licensing – Tier 1
“An excellent tactician who is persuasive on his feet.” – Legal 500, 2019 – Inquests and Inquiries
“He combines fantastic technical ability with great client care skills.” – Legal 500, 2019 – Regulatory, Health and Safety and Licensing
“His legal, tactical and presentational abilities are excellent.” – Legal 500, 2018 – Inquests and Inquiries
Austin Welch specialises in public inquiries, inquests and health and safety and is one of the most experienced and well respected junior barristers in these areas of law. Over a number of years Austin has been consistently recognised by the UK legal directories as being a leading individual in these specialist areas of practice.
Austin has been instructed in some of the most significant, high profile and complex inquests and public inquiries in recent years including: The Manchester Arena Inquiry; The Independent Investigation into Child Sexual Abuse and the Hillsborough Inquests. Austin represents companies and corporate bodies; public and local authorities; government departments; individuals and bereaved families who are granted interested person or core participant status. He has a particular specialism in representing clients in inquests and inquiries that involve health and safety issues.
Austin represents clients in relation to health and safety, fire safety and food safety offences. He is regularly instructed to represent companies and individuals charged with such offences in both the Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court and has an excellent track record for achieving positive outcomes for his clients. Austin is experienced in representing clients from a wide variety of industries and is known for providing clear, commercial advice.
Austin also represents companies and individuals in criminal and professional disciplinary proceedings that follow inquests and public inquiries and successfully represented one of the retired police officers in R v Denton and others, the Hillsborough ‘cover-up’ trial that was dismissed at the close of the prosecution case.
As a member of the Regulatory List, Austin is instructed by the HSE to prosecute health and safety cases. Austin is also a member of the Attorney-General’s List of Counsel and is regularly instructed to represent government departments in complex Article 2 inquests.
Austin represents medical professionals in disciplinary proceedings brought by the GMC.
He regularly appears on behalf of doctors in fitness to practice proceedings in the MPTS as well as other professionals charged with disciplinary offences by their regulators. Austin also has significant experience in representing police officers in disciplinary and criminal proceedings.
Called 2005; tenant Lincoln House Chambers 2010 to date. Before being called to the Bar Austin was a commercial solicitor at an international law firm in the City of London. Austin also worked for the United Nations at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Health & Safety Lawyers Association Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers Northern Circuit
University Of Leeds (LLB (Hons)); The College of Law, Chester (LPC); Manchester Metropolitan University (BVC); Queen Mother Scholarship awarded by the Middle Temple.
Mountain biking, attending live music, the cinema, going to the gym.