Personal Injury, Commercial & Chancery and Regulatory & Public

Personal Injury

John handles all aspects of personal injury, ranging from modest to catastrophic. He also appears in inquests and public inquiries.

John has a particular interest in injuries arising in sport and has significant sports experience and knowledge to draw from.

John is comfortable dealing with specialist expert evidence and has ready access to medical expertise for informal input.

John has a narrow expertise in cases involving Credit Hire and has acted in credit hire cases since 1994.

He has provided update lectures on sports injuries, head injury, credit hire, low velocity impact and third party costs orders.

John has extensive driving experience and understands emergency response and police driving. He held an RAC Racing Permit for two years and holds a full motorcycle license. He also cycles.

Commercial & ChanceryJohn has a well-developed business practice encompassing contract, tort, employment, copyright, trade marks, passing off, sport and aspects of media including defamation. He also advises across the full range of General Common Law. He is particularly drawn to cases which include a range of issues.

John has advised on various aspects of European law particularly in relation to Trade Marks. He has applied for, and defended, a broad range of injunctions including ‘search’ and ‘freezing’ orders.

His work includes significant experience in advising where Criminal and Civil actions are running concurrently.

John frequently acts in circumstances where advice is needed in order to assist in avoiding media attention and has successfully applied for injunctions preventing the advertising and publication of a film and subsequent attempts to sell it on Amazon or show it at various private clubs.

He has advised on taking steps which have resulted in the removal of inaccurate information from the internet by Google and Amazon.

Soft IP cases including copyright and trade mark infringement in music and the packaging of consumer goods.

John has advised public relations firms and website providers on various aspects of their work.

John has broad and useful experience outside the law from banking, the Civil Service, and public relations.

John sits as “Independent Person” under the Localism Act for a local authority and has also chaired a local authority remuneration committee. He has a good understanding of the interior workings of councils and the higher echelons of the civil service and has advised on complex matters involving the disciplinary processes of Parliament and their interaction with courts. He has advised in relation to actions against local politicians and MPs.

John has advised on aspects of European law and lectured Montenegrin Judges and prosecuting authorities on money laundering as part of their application to join the EU. John was invited by the Patent Office (as was) to advise the Indian Government on IP issues.

John is able to advise in a quasi-non-executive or critical friend capacity and has contributed to complex projects and events as an extra source of oversight.

Regulatory & Public

John has acted in significant cases involving; Intellectual Property, Animal Cruelty Fraud, Export of Chemical Weapons, Environment Damage to areas of Special Scientific Interest, Asbestos, and Shipping. He has represented a person described by the press as the “largest bootlegger in the world”

John’s expertise in Copyright and Trademark Law and understanding of European Law took him to the House of Lords in the leading case of R v Johnstone. John’s has broad and useful experience outside the bar he has been employed in banking the civil service, and public relations. He has a good understanding of local and parliamentary government.

John sits on the Standards Committee at Craven District Council and is a Statutory Independent Person for the authority under the Localism Act. He also sat on the West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Board Equality and Diversity Committee, he chairs a remuneration committee for a local authority.

John is Chair of Discipline and Grievance for British Fencing and is responsible for maintaining a panel of adjudicators for disciplinary hearings. This experience gives him a good understanding of disciplinary proceedings. He advised in the preparation for the Tour de France, the start of which was held in Yorkshire in 2014 and continues to advise in relation to other significant cycling events.

John has represented police officers, lawyers and politicians in criminal and civil actions and serving police officers facing disciplinary proceedings. For 4 Years, John was Counsel for the Metropolitan Police and he has acted for the Police Federation and its insurers. John was designated Counsel for UNIFED, a short-lived rival to the Police Federation. John also has extensive experience of actions against the police.

John has advised on aspects of European law and lectured Montenegrin Judges and prosecuting authorities on money laundering as part of their application to join the EU

John accepts instructions for inquests. He was Counsel for the estate of the crane driver in the Canada Square crane disaster. John also acted for the parents of Laura Garner in a case which led to changes in the way urgent patients are assessed following admissions to hospital.

Representing doctors, teachers, police officers, nurses, pharmacists, footballers and fencers in front of disciplinary panels.

Call 1992

Appointments:2009 - PresentCraven District Council Independent Person

2009-2010West Yorks Criminal Justice Board, Equality and Diversity Committee Member

2012 - PresentBritish Fencing Disciplinary and Grievance Tribunal Chair

2016 - PresentCraven District Council Remuneration Committee

Personal Injury Bar AssocationAdmin Law Bar AssociationCriminal Bar Association

BA Hons (Phil Lit) Dip law.