Francis has a diverse and overlapping practice that incorporates the following general and specialist areas:

Civil litigation (including personal injury) Regulatory Coroner’s inquests and inquiries Data protection and information technology Property Contract

Originally called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 2007, Francis dual qualified as a solicitor-advocate in 2012 before returning to the Bar in 2013.

Francis’ practice expertise has developed not only while he has been practising at the Bar in London and throughout the country, but also from his professional experience working as a solicitor with a national law firm in London, Birmingham, and Nottingham.

His unique and diverse practice profile makes him extremely versatile, in both advising clients and representing them in court. He is equally experienced and comfortable bringing and defending claims and applications. He receives instructions to represent claimants and applicants as well as defendants and respondents alike.

Francis is known for being approachable, down to earth, and giving sound practical advice to clients.

He is particularly sought after where sensitivity and understanding are required by solicitors and lay clients alike. This is especially the case where he is instructed in coroners’ inquests to represent the family of the deceased.

As a highly experienced and accomplished advocate, he brings an extensive range of oral and written advocacy experience and expertise to each of the cases that he is instructed on. This is a particular strength in his practice that he continues to actively develop. He employs a meticulous approach in his case analysis and case preparation and frequently relies on analytical skills he acquired as as research scientist.

Francis’ advocacy experience is particularly extensive. It is drawn from continuous instructions and appearances in trials, hearings, and appeals in the County Court, High Court, Coroner’s Court, Senior Courts Costs Office, as well as the Employment and First-Tier Tribunals and disciplinary hearings.

With this significant advantage, he is very familiar with the different advocacy approaches required in different tribunals. He always strives to be clear, concise, and pragmatic in his approach where ever he appears. He is a robust and tenacious advocate when the occasion demands it.

Before the Bar

Francis has considerable international experience in the applied neurosciences.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Francis trained and practised as a research neuroscientist in Canada, Japan and the United States.

His last faculty appointment (2002-2005) was to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience at Wayne State University Medical School in Detroit. There he was also research director of the Emerging Technology Research Division (ETRD).

In this role, he used neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG, EEG) to investigate human learning, memory, and decision making in applied settings. He collaborated with partners in the automotive, aerospace, and defence industries including General Motors, Ford, NASA, and the National Defence University.

Francis trained at several internationally renowned medial centres including the Institute of Psychiatry (Kings College) in London, and the Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Manhattan (City University of New York).

He completed his doctoral training and expertise in neuroimaging and learning at the internationally recognised Robarts Research Institute in the University of Western Ontario Canada.

His expertise allowed him to collaborate in Japan with the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the ATR Human Information Processing Research Laboratory in Kyoto.

In addition to publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, Francis has presented research papers in neuropsychology and neuroscience at national and international fora and conferences.

Before pursuing a research career, Francis was recruited to work with the London Metropolitan Police Service. He served both as an operational and specialist police officer.

During this time he acquired considerable experience of police procedures and practices as well as the techniques and methodologies used in the investigation of a range of complex offences.