Kate specialises in health & safety, environmental matters, white collar crime, Trading Standards, NCA, FCA and SOCA investigations. Kate is a highly regarded legal director at Gateley and has been with the team for seven years. Kate specialises in defending all types of health & safety cases, environmental investigations, general criminal defence work and financial crime. Kate regularly attends Coroners Courts and Criminal Courts representing businesses and individuals facing all manner of health & safety investigations and prosecutions. Kate is at home in the Criminal Court arena having been a Court Duty Solicitor and accredited Police Station Representative for many years. Kate is able to bring her wealth of experience of general criminal defence work to health & safety/ regulatory investigations, a skillset that is often lacking in regulatory lawyers. Kate is client-focused and proactive, often resolving complex health & safety and regulatory investigations with out of Court disposals securing minimum fuss and limited reputational damage for the client. Clients often comment on Kate’s no-nonsense, practical approach and her insight in being able to anticipate the way in which a regulator will proceed with an investigation and be two steps ahead of them. Kate is a focused lawyer and her ability to get into the detail of a case makes her unflappable, delivering excellent results every time. Kate regularly writes blogs, social media posts and articles for health & safety publications.
England - West Midlands • Employment
Gateley Legal
The nationwide team at Gateley Legal provides a ‘one-stop’ fatal accident, major incident and crisis management service to a national client base. It deals with all aspects of crisis management - the Birmingham team is led by Ruth Armstrong. The practice has a strong reputation across a number of sectors including transport, waste management and leisure. It acts for a number of the top 20 housebuilders in the UK as well as blue-chip companies, SMEs and owner managed businesses. Kate Oliver specialises in the defence of all types of accident investigations and regularly attends the Coroners Courts.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Key clients
- United Molasses Group
- Drayton Manor Park Limited
- Taylor Wimpey plc
- Vistry Group
- Bellway plc
- Story Homes Group
- Keepmoat
- Costcutter Supermarkets Group
- Dr. Oetker (UK) Limited
- Malmaison & Hotel du Vin Property Holdings Limited
- Samworth Brothers Limited
- Sudlows Limited
- Lovell
- Mamas and Papas Limited
- WG Carter
- Sport Regulation Authority
- Miller Homes Limited
- Croudace Homes Group
- DCC plc
- Certas Energy UK Limited
- Nylacast Limited
- Viva Nylons Limited
- Grupo Bimbo (New York Bagels)
- Sunrise Poultry Farms Limited
- Miller Homes Limited
Work highlights
- Advised a number of the top 10 and top 20 housebuilders on fire and corporate risk arising from the legislation changes in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy including their remediation provision (running to hundreds of £millions) and the Government Pledge and Self-Remediation Terms.
- Advised the employer of a carpenter killed when he fell from height during internal renovation works. Acting for the employer during the Police and HSE investigations.
- Acting for the principal contractor in the HSE investigation and Inquest after a groundworks operative was fatally injured by a 360-degree excavator on a live construction site.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Ruth is the Head of the Regulatory and Business Defence Unit at Gateley. Ruth is a recognised leader in the regulatory field, advising on all regulatory disciplines ranging from fatal accidents to fraud and pollution to bribery. She has over 25 years’ experience of regulatory and white collar defence work for businesses and senior office holders. Ruth sits on the IOSH Environmental & Waste Management Group national committee and working party of the National Safety & Health Conference. She delivers strategic guidance and thought leadership to industry through her business defence work.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Ruth Armstrong